How DOGE Saves Taxpayers Almost $1 Billion by Cutting Energy Department Contracts

By the end of July, the Energy Department accrued more than $950 million in contract savings with assistance from the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency. 

In some cases, the terminated contracts were tied to regulations. In other cases, the contracts were about “environmental justice” or related to energy “justice.” 

One example was a $259 million contract with Guidehouse for “appliance standards analysis and regulatory support service.” 

The contract had been partially paid, but the cancellation resulted in $165 million savings for taxpayers, according to the Energy Department and DOGE.  

A spokeswoman for Guidehouse declined to comment for this story. Guidehouse says it has public and private sector clients with consultants that focus on efficiency. 

Guidehouse has done technical work for the Energy Department for years to maintain a certification database for the federal government to keep illegal products—such as appliances and parts—from being imported, ProPublica reported earlier this year in an article opposing the cut.

The Energy Department also canceled a $2.6 million contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine regarding a “carbon management study on justice considerations with broader carbon management profile.” 

The National Academies of Sciences says the Energy Department award was to establish an “ad hoc committee to examine the safety, societal considerations, and environmental and health impacts of engineered carbon management technologies.”

“The analysis should especially consider impacts of carbon management on communities that are heavily burdened by energy system harms and environmental injustices,” the agency says in the description.

The National Academies of Sciences referred The Daily Signal to a previous statement on its website that says: “On March 27, 2025, the Department of Energy informed the National Academy of Sciences that it should terminate all work on this activity. This activity has ended, and a final product was not released.”

Another $2.4 million was saved by canceling a contract that focused on making energy more equitable and fostering justice in energy sharing, according to the Energy Department. 

Although DOGE has faded from the spotlight, and despite a highly public dustup between President Donald Trump and former DOGE chief Elon Musk, the cost-cutting effort continues, said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the chairwoman of the Senate DOGE Caucus. This was clear from the revisions package passed in Congress, Ernst said. 

“It’s going to live on. It may look a little different, but the taxpayers are tired of seeing their money go down the endless rabbit hole of spending in the federal government for projects that never turn out to be,” Ernst told The Daily Signal. 

Ernst notes that the DOGE effort is somewhat different from past movements to slash spending, such as the tea party movement. 

“With DOGE, it’s not just about cutting back on expenditures. It is about finding efficiency. Everybody tends to forget, you know, DOGE is the Department of Government Efficiency,” Ernst said. “… So it’s like we’ve taken a holistic approach to actually ferreting out fraud, waste, and abuse in the government, but also taking the extra step of making sure that we’re not just slashing the federal government, but we’re making it more efficient for our constituents.” 

The Energy Department terminated a $124.9 million contract with Alaska-based Kadiak LLC for management and business consulting. Though almost half was paid out already, the termination saved taxpayers $62.7 million, according to the DOGE website. 

Kadiak did not respond to phone and email inquiries for this story. 

The Energy Department had a $318 million contract with Accenture Federal Services, the bulk of which was paid out. But after terminating the contract, taxpayers saved $49 million, according to DOGE. 

On top of that, in May, Energy Secretary Chris Wright terminated 24 separate awards totaling $3.7 billion in tax-funded projects. Most involved carbon capture and sequestration, as well as decarbonization initiatives. 

Of the two dozen grants Wright identified, the Biden administration’s Energy Department awarded 16 between Election Day and Jan. 20, the day Trump was inaugurated. 

“While the previous administration failed to conduct a thorough financial review before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars, the Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure we are utilizing taxpayer dollars to strengthen our national security, bolster affordable, reliable energy sources and advance projects that generate the highest possible return on investment,” Wright said in a public statement in May after announcing a series of project cancellations.

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