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.
Table of Contents
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.
Related Articles
The General Services Administration announced that the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, completed 114 cloud security authorizations in July for fiscal year 2025, more than double the number finished in FY 2024. GSA said Monday FedRAMP also authorized four new cloud service offerings through the FedRAMP 20x Phase One pilot. What Is FedRAMP 20x? Launched in March, FedRAMP 20x is a cloud-native authorization approach that seeks to reduce red tape and advance automation to enable companies to continuously validate the security of their cloud offerings. The framework seeks to simplify security requirements to speed up the authorization
The Department of the Air Force, in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit, has unveiled Finance First, an initiative designed to accelerate development, deployment and financing of secure, resilient and reliable energy solutions at U.S. military installations. Finance First Builds on Private Sector Practices According to DIU, the program aims to improve energy resiliency and maintain uninterrupted mission operations by applying agile private sector practices to the design, financing and deployment of energy systems that can withstand grid instability, cyberattacks and other disruptions, while ensuring on-base power redundancy through an ‘all of the above’ approach to fuel sources and energy
Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla has stepped down as the commander of the U.S. Central Command, concluding a three-year tenure in the role. He handed over the command to Adm. Brad Cooper in a ceremony, CENTCOM said Friday. Commenting on his departure, Kurilla said, “It has been the honor of my life to have been their commander.” He welcomed the appointment of Cooper, saying that under his leadership, the “front lines of freedom will always succeed.” Who Is Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla? Kurilla has been CENTCOM’s commander since April 2022. Over the years, he headed the Airborne, Mechanized, Stryker, Ranger and