DOGE in review: Did the agency create opportunities for new government efficiencies in 2026?
President Donald Trump greenlighted the “Department of Government Efficiency” as a means to modernize information technology and slash federal spending while improving productivity, but now that the agency has since been quietly disbanded, how successful was it?
To find out, WTOP turned to Terry Gerton, who began hosting the Federal News Networks’ “The Federal Drive” earlier this year.
Before joining FNN, Gerton spent her career working in and with the federal government, including eight years at the National Academy of Public Administration, which assists government leaders in building more efficient and transparent organizations. Gerton also served in the military and in the departments of Labor and Defense.
To evaluate whether DOGE achieved its goals, Gerton said you have to start with the definition of efficiency. For some people, the bottom line is whether the government costs less — and it might be that in the short run, it does.
The General Services Administration terminated hundreds of building leases, so they’re not paying rent. Also, fewer people now work for the federal government, although most of those people drew their full salary for the fiscal year before the layoffs and departures took effect.
Additionally, agencies terminated many contracts, so there’s less money going out the door. But, Gerton said, many of those savings may be offset by legal costs challenging the terminations, and they may be reinstated with penalties.
But if the definition of efficiency is making government programs work more smoothly and achieve better results, then Gerton said the uniform consensus is, no, nothing right now is working better than it was in 2024.
Using data to make government function better
That’s not to say there aren’t opportunities on the horizon for new government efficiencies.
“A lot of experienced federal workers and good government groups have long argued that there are a lot of ways the government could work smarter and not harder,” Gerton said.
“And I think as we go into 2026, there actually are some opportunities to really improve government work.”
One option is using data better.
Laws and regulations have always prioritized data privacy over data sharing to prevent data breaches, but for better or worse, Gerton said, DOGE broke down all the data silos.
“As a result, there is now an opportunity to rebuild the government data system that works better for beneficiaries,” she said.
“And the program managers can use data better to understand the commonality among their beneficiaries, design programs to meet those needs, and to make that process work more smoothly.”
Gerton said government will still have to prioritized data privacy, but she believes there’s a real opportunity there, and that “people are really engaged in moving that forward.”
Artificial Intelligence vs. Federal Acquisition Regulation overhaul
The other big opportunity is the deployment of artificial intelligence. AI has been in the background for a long time, and people have been talking about what will happen with it, but it’s happening now, Gerton said.
“Sometimes with guardrails, sometimes not, but it’s being tested in lots of different ways,” she said.
Given how much smaller the federal workforce is right now — somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 fewer people — Gerton said AI could streamline many processes that used to require humans and instead put humans where they really can make a difference.
One other positive that emerged in 2025 is the overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which regulates how the government contracts for the purchase of products and services.
Gerton said the FAR reform is getting good marks early on, although the formal rulemaking process hasn’t happened yet.
Acquisition, she said, is one sector where AI is being rolled out quickly, helping contracting officers design and evaluate proposals and helping contractors prepare their proposals to speed up the contract award process.
In 2026, there will be a lot of watching. Gerton said she will be keeping tabs on the planned reforms by the Office of Personnel Management to streamline the hiring process, many of which have been tried before without success, and checking the details of acquisition reform when they write the rules to see if they match the guidance.
“Perhaps the biggest thing to watch is what role Congress will play in all of this,” she said. “Will they start to legislate to stabilize the executive branch in the federal workforce?”
Gerton said there is hope that things will settle down into a new normal, but there are still so many decisions about what happened in 2025 to come, that much remains unresolved.