In a newly issued executive order (EO), the Trump administration has directed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Musk-advised initiative aimed at cutting federal spending, to establish a “centralized technological system” across all agencies to track contract and grant awards.
As part of the implementation of these systems, employees who approve individual contract and grant payments will be required to submit a written justification for their decisions. Agency heads will have the authority to “pause and quickly review” any payment where approval justifications are not submitted, as outlined in the EO.
Additionally, the order mandates that agency heads, with assistance from DOGE, develop systems to “centrally record” approvals for federally funded travel related to conferences and other “non-essential” activities. Once these systems are operational, employees will need to provide written justifications for expenses related to “non-essential” and conference travel.
This EO marks the latest expansion of DOGE’s significant powers to scrutinize federal spending. Earlier this month, DOGE sent an email to federal employees instructing them to outline their accomplishments from the previous week, with a warning of termination for those who fail to comply. The content of these submissions is reportedly set to be fed into an AI algorithm to assess whether employees’ work is deemed mission-critical.
DOGE was created under an EO signed by President Trump on January 20, which also renamed the U.S. Digital Service to DOGE. The department has appointed teams of “special government employees” throughout federal agencies, composed largely of young private-sector workers with ties to Musk’s companies and associates. DOGE has operated with limited oversight, raising concerns about whether cybersecurity and privacy practices are being adequately followed.
