GAO to DOGE: The ‘Wall of Receipts’ does not add up

The Department of Government Efficiency’s infamous Wall of Receipts was always problematic for its inaccuracies and misrepresentations.

Now the Government Accountability Office has put a bow on that reputation with a new report published Thursday that hammers the Elon Musk-led organization for its lack of transparency, overstated savings and data quality issues.

Our colleagues at NextGov/FCW have highlighted GAO's findings in that report of how DOGE took credit for savings that never happened, while Government Executive looked at the lack of transparency surrounding employees that worked for DOGE.

As for Washington Technology, we ran into some of these problems with accuracy and transparency firsthand in our reporting on DOGE in the early days of the Trump administration.

I once wrote about a company losing a $1 billion-plus contract. Company officials did not initially comment, but called me a few days later and told me on background to check again.

That $1 billion had been reduced to roughly $200 million. I then reported that, and a few days later the company called me again on background.

More corrections entered the total and the final tally of savings eventually arrived at $200,000.

DOGE also claimed $1.7 billion in savings involving a Defense Health Agency contract for IT services.

DOGE said the contract was terminated. DHA officials were able to dissuade DOGE from making the cut.

But the Wall of Receipts continued to report that $1.7 billion as saved even though that was not the case, GAO said.

A third example is an Air Force contract for IT modernization services known as Base Infrastructure Modernization. The Air Force reduced the value of the contract by 30%, or $3.75 billion.

DOGE claimed $4 billion in savings, but Air Force officials could not explain to GAO why there was a discrepancy.

On top of that, there is no guarantee that any money would be saved. An Air Force official told GAO the service branch may end up having to spend more because of the need to award new contracts to make up the difference, which could mean losing the opportunity leverage efficiencies and cost savings already negotiated.

GAO also found problems with DOGE’s claims about money saved on cancelled leases. At one point, DOGE claimed to have terminated 679 leases for savings of $400 million. Eventually, DOGE removed 415 of those leases and that reduced the claimed savings to $53.5 million.

DOGE officials declined to meet with GAO to explain the changes.

DOGE also claimed savings from leases that were already scheduled to end before the office was launched on Jan. 20, 2025.

Also missing from DOGE’s savings calculation is the cost of terminating leases and contracts and closing out grants.

GAO said that government agencies should disclose issues with their data quality and other limitations, such as completeness and timeliness. This helps users determine who much they can rely on the data and how to use it.

“The Wall of Receipts does not sufficiently disclose issues or limitations affecting data quality,” GAO wrote.

The DOGE wall of receipts still exists. You can still look at it, but I have not checked it in months.

No one can rely on it.