The Department of Defense has announced a memorandum that provides contracting officers and agreement officers with specific instructions for reporting termination and cancellation actions related to the Trump administration’s efficiency initiatives to the Federal Procurement Data System, or FPDS, and the System for Award Management, or SAM.
DOD said Thursday the memo from the principal director of the Defense Pricing, Contracting and Acquisition Policy, or DPCAP, is in compliance with a Feb. 18 presidential memo titled Radical Transparency About Wasteful Spending.
According to the department, the DPCAP memo applies to unclassified Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contracts and other transaction agreements for prototypes or follow-on production.
How to Report Terminations & Cancellations to FPDS
The memo directs contracting personnel to make the appropriate selection from the options provided in the “Reason for Modification” field in FPDS and select the “RTWS” option in the “Initiative” field in contract action reports submitted to the system for any definitized cancellation or termination modification that is related to the efficiency initiatives.
Contract action reports should be reported to FPDS within three business days.
Posting Special Notices to SAM
The document directs contracting officers to post a special notice in SAM’s Contract Opportunities area to provide details of the unclassified canceled or terminated award reported to FPDS. The special notice is only required if the value of the award is greater than $250,000.
The memo also includes specific instructions for canceled or terminated awards whose statement of work or performance work statement is publicly releasable.
Hegseth’s Memo on Wasteful Spending
In March, Pete Hegseth, defense secretary and a 2025 Wash100 awardee, signed a memorandum to terminate more than $580 million in contracts, programs and grants as part of DOD’s ongoing effort to eliminate wasteful spending.
The memo called for the cancellation of a software development program for the Defense Civilian Human Resources Management System and the termination of over $360 million in additional grants that are not aligned with DOD priorities.
