The Federal Acquisition Regulation requires the right for the government to terminate any federal contract “for convenience.”
by Joe Lancaster
Reason.com
President Donald Trump won a nonconsecutive second term promising to cut government waste to the bone. He formalized the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a governmental organization in an executive order on his first day back in office.
Since then, the department and its leader in all but name, Elon Musk, have persistently made news for big moves against federal spending. For one, Musk routinely claims his department has uncovered huge savings, only for subsequent reporting to find any actual savings were much more modest.
But the government does seem to have canceled thousands of federal contracts on DOGE’s recommendation, using a provision of federal law that gives the government the ability to cancel commitments largely at its pleasure.