Pete Hegseth, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2025 Wash100 awardee, signed a memorandum on Thursday to terminate more than $580 million in contracts, programs and grants as part of DOD’s ongoing effort to eliminate wasteful spending.
Canceling Software Development Program
According to the memo, one of the programs being eliminated is a software development initiative for the Defense Civilian Human Resources Management System, which sought to streamline a major part of DOD’s legacy HR IT stack.
The memo states that the program is six years behind schedule and more than $280 million, or 780 percent, over budget.
With the program’s termination, Hegseth has directed the DOD performance improvement officer to work with the director of the Defense Human Resources Activity, the department’s chief information officer, military departments and HR service providers to develop over the next two months a new plan for streamlining the HR management system.
Other Proposed Cuts
The defense secretary’s document also calls for the termination of over $360 million in additional grants that are not aligned with DOD priorities and $30 million in contracts with external consulting firms for analysis products.
DOD News reported that Hegseth said in prerecorded remarks that the proposed terminations bring the department’s total amount of canceled wasteful spending to about $800 million since his announcement of future cuts in late February.
The defense official noted that the savings achieved through the elimination of wasteful spending would help ensure that warfighters have what they need.
“[The warfighters are] working hard, we’re working hard with them, we appreciate the work that they’re doing, and we have a lot more coming,” Hegseth said.
