Independent trackers maintained by HigherGov, GovSpend, Fed-Spend, and G2Xchange report that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative has terminated, reduced, or restructured roughly 10,000+ federal contracts worth approximately $71 billion since launching in early 2025. Some estimates run higher — Fed-Spend tracks roughly $85 billion in cancelled, reduced, or restructured contracts. Coverage from HigherGov and Fed-Spend.
Categories hit hardest
- Consulting and advisory services
- DEI programs
- Foreign aid (USAID portfolio largely frozen)
- Climate-related contracts
- Administrative IT
Agencies under pressure
USAID is the single hardest-hit agency — DOGE effectively froze the majority of its contract portfolio, cancelling development contracts, humanitarian programs, and consulting agreements en masse. Department of Education and FEMA are also in the top tier of impacted agencies.
Contractor rights are narrow
The government's right to terminate for convenience is broad. Unlike termination for default, there are limited paths to challenge a T-for-C — proving bad faith or abuse of discretion requires clear and convincing evidence. Most contractors recover only stop-work costs, not anticipated profit.
What to do
- If you receive a stop-work order: document costs immediately, preserve every cost record
- Diversify out of high-risk categories (DEI/foreign aid/climate consulting) into national-defense, infrastructure, or border-security work
- Watch the trackers — patterns reveal which agencies and NAICS codes are still safe