The order continues the Trump administration’s directives to have all agencies coordinate with Elon Musk’s DOGE cost-cutting effort.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 26 that gives new cost-cutting directives to all federal agencies while they coordinate with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The order directs departments to immediately review all contracts and grants for “waste, fraud, and abuse” and to justify and publicly release government payments and travel expenses where possible. The General Services Administration will also create a plan for offloading any unnecessary government-owned or leased real estate property.
The excluded contracts and grants include direct assistance to individuals; expenses related to immigration enforcement, law enforcement, the military, public safety, or national intelligence; and “other critical, acute, or emergency spending.”
Trump is also ordering agency heads to work with DOGE team members at their agencies to “review and terminate all unnecessary contracts.”
This review must be completed within 30 days of the order.
Agency heads must also create a “centralized technological system” within their respective departments to record all payments issued and require all agency employees to provide written justification for any payments they submit.
The system must include a mechanism for the agency head to pause and review any payments where the approving employee failed to submit a brief, according to the order.
The order also directs agency heads to consult with their department’s DOGE team leader and issue guidance on signing new contracts or modifying existing contracts to “promote government efficiency and the policies of [the Trump] administration.”
DOGE team leaders are instructed to provide a monthly informational report on contracting activities.
The Feb. 26 order is the latest from the Trump administration directing federal agencies to coordinate with Elon Musk’s DOGE as the team works to cut government spending and decrease the size of the federal workforce.
On Feb. 11, Trump signed an executive order directing all agency heads to work with DOGE in cutting staff and limiting hiring.
According to that order, the Office of Personnel Management will create rules to ensure that federal workers are “held to the highest standards of conduct.”
By Jacob Burg
