Trump and DOGE demand centralised tech systems to track spending
President Donald Trump has directed US government agencies to build “centralised tech systems” to “record every payment” made via grants and contracts, as part of the ongoing Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.
The presidential instruction was made through an executive order with a stated aim of transforming federal spending on contracts, grants and loans “to ensure government spending is transparent and government employees are accountable to the American public”.
The order, which was published on 26 February, is titled “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Cost Efficiency Initiative”. It instructs agencies to “immediately review all contracts and grants for waste, fraud and abuse” and states that government payments and travel expenses “must be justified and made publicly available where possible”. Agency heads will work with DOGE team leads employed by their agencies to “review and terminate all unnecessary contracts”, the White House said.
The order instructs DOGE team leads embedded in agencies to provide “monthly informational reports on contracting activities”, including payment and travel justifications.
‘Seamlessly record every payment’
The executive order’s third section, which is titled ‘Cutting Costs to Save Taxpayers Money’, sets out the main presidential instructions.
In its first sub-section on ‘Contract and Grant Justification’, the order instructs that “each agency head shall, with assistance as requested from the agency’s DOGE team lead, build a centralised technological system within the agency to seamlessly record every payment issued by the agency pursuant to each of the agency’s covered contracts and grants, along with a brief, written justification for each payment submitted by the agency employee who approved the payment”.
It adds that the system should include a mechanism for agency heads to pause and review any payment for which the approving employee has not submitted a written justification.
In a sub-section titled ‘Review of Covered Contracts and Grants’, each agency head, in consultation with the agency’s DOGE lead, is instructed to review “all existing covered contracts and grants and, where appropriate and consistent with applicable law, terminate or modify (including through renegotiation) such covered contracts and grants to reduce overall federal spending or reallocate spending to promote efficiency and advance the policies of my [Trump’s] administration”.
Agency heads are ordered to prioritise reviewing funds disbursed under covered contracts and grants to “educational institutions and foreign entities for waste, fraud and abuse”. Each agency head is asked to complete this within 30 days.
“Covered contracts and grants” is defined in the order as meaning “discretionary spending through federal contracts, grants, loans and related instruments” and excluding “direct assistance to individuals; expenditures related to immigration enforcement, law enforcement, the military, public safety, and the intelligence community; and other critical, acute or emergency spending, as determined by the relevant agency head”.
Further sub-sections of the executive order relate to areas such as travel justification and federal government property assets.
The federal government committed about US$759bn (£603bn) on contracts in fiscal year 2023, according to a factsheet published by the White House alongside the executive order. It states that this “flood of spending historically had minimal safeguards”.
Trump’s overall objective is, it states, to “bring discipline to a wasteful system… [that] fails to safeguard taxpayer dollars or promote merit among contractors and grant recipients”.
A version of this article was first published in our sister publication Global Government Fintech.
TMF executive director leaves
In other US government news, General Services Administration (GSA) Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) executive director Larry Bafundo announced on 28 February that he was “stepping away” from his role.
The GSA manages federal property and provides contracting options for government agencies. The TMF provides financing for government agencies to pay for IT modernisation initiatives – in its own words, to “break the cycle of legacy IT”.
“TMF investments modernise government systems, strengthen security and deliver better services to the public,” Bafundo wrote in a LinkedIn post. “These efforts go beyond technology improvements – they are projected to save taxpayers over US$1.2bn by making government more efficient and cost-effective. Continued investment in TMF will be critical to sustaining this impact.
“But modernising government is about more than just technology – it requires changing complex systems. Many of the toughest challenges don’t fit into a two- or four-year political cycle. And while technology can be a powerful lever, real change often depends on better policy. This is because too often, government programmes aren’t designed to deliver value; they are designed to deliver on political compromise. Addressing these root-cause issues requires sustained investment and long-term commitment.”
He added that it “has been disheartening to see public servants disparaged in the media recently”.
“Are there opportunities to improve? Yes. But for the most part, public servants are smart, tenacious, and dedicated people who work every day to make the country better. They’re also your neighbours, family members, and friends.”
“The challenges ahead are significant, but so is the opportunity, not just to improve the government we have, but to realise the government we deserve,’ he wrote.
Jessie Posilkin, who has previously served as TMF acting executive director, will take up the position again following Bafundo’s departure.
GSA acting administrator Stephen Ehikian told Nextgov/FCW that: “The TMF Board of experienced federal technology executives will continue investigating where to invest the fund’s dollars, monitor progress and performance of TMF investments, and offer their expertise to federal agencies looking to modernise and innovate.
“Every day, the TMF delivers tremendous value for the millions of people we serve – and I know they will continue to help agencies reimagine and transform the way they use technology to deliver services to Americans in rapid, cost-effective ways,” he said.
Government Service Delivery – the new name for GovernmentDX – will bring together global digital government leaders to explore how governments can use tech-driven innovation to deliver high-quality public services. The event will be held at Walter E Washington Convention Center, Washington DC on May 13-14, 2025. Find out more and register your interest here.
18F digital unit closed
On Saturday morning, the GSA axed its 18F technology unit, with staff members receiving an email and the website being taken offline. The unit was founded in 2014 and developed public-facing IT services like the Login.gov central login system for major government services and played a key role in high-profile projects such as free online tax return service IRS Direct File.
According to reports, Thomas Shedd – a former Tesla employee recently appointed as the director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services, which houses 18F – announced the 18F programme had been eliminated as part of the ongoing reduction-in-force effort.
An open letter posted online at 18F.org by departing staff on Saturday said: “18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want [yet] all employees at 18F – a group that the Trump administration GSA Technology Transformation Services director called ‘the gold standard’ of civic tech – were terminated today.”
The letter added that: “Dismantling 18F follows the gutting of the original US Digital Service. These cuts are just the most recent in a series of a sledgehammer approach to the critical US teams supporting IT infrastructure.”
It concluded: “We’re not done yet. We’re still absorbing what has happened. We’re wrestling with what it will mean for ourselves and our families, as well as the impact on our partners and the American people.
“But we came to the government to fix things. And we’re not done with this work yet.”
Additional reporting by Sarah Wray
Listen to our podcast with Aaron Snow, co-founder and former executive director of 18F:
About Ian Hall
Ian is editor of Global Government Fintech a sister publication to Global Government Forum. Ian also writes for media including City AM and #DisruptionBanking. He is former UK director for the pan-European media network Euractiv (2011-2018), editor of Public Affairs News (2007-2011) and news editor of PR Week (2000-2007). He was shortlisted for ‘Editor of the Year’ at the British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) Awards in 2010. He began his career in Bulgaria at English-language weekly the Sofia Echo. Ian has an MA in Urban and Regional Change in Europe and a BA in Economics, both from Durham University.
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