‘We got un-DOGE'd': Inaccurate info discovered in claimed taxpayer savings

The Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, claims on its website the agency has saved over $600 million in taxpayer funds by just terminating leases used by federal agencies.

However, the NBC10 Investigators found DOGE has listed inaccurate information about which properties in Massachusetts and New Hampshire have actually had lease contracts cancelled.

DOGE’s website maintains a list of canceled real estate leases on its website, dubbed the "Wall of Receipts." Overall, their data claims that they have saved $659,829,727 across the country.

The list includes 17 government offices in Massachusetts and six in New Hampshire with a claimed savings of $5,982,688. In Massachusetts, four IRS offices are among those listed as having their leases terminated. Those locations are in Lowell, Southboro, Springfield and Worcester.

But the owner of Worcester’s Mercantile Building, which houses an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, told NBC10 the cancelled notice it received earlier this month was later rescinded.

Yet, the Worcester IRS location remains listed on the DOGE website as having had its lease terminated, with a purposed savings of $994,040. The Worcester Business Journal first reported this.

A similar thing happened for the IRS office in Springfield.

“We got un-DOGE’d,” said Demetrios Panteleakis, who helps run MacMillan Group, which negotiates leases for the Springfield building that houses three IRS offices.

Panteleakis said the General Services Administration rescinded the cancellations because the agency realized what a large area that the Springfield IRS office covers.

“For this office in Springfield, Massachusetts, it covers everything from the start of Hampden County… all the way to the end of the borders of Connecticut and New York down in the Berkshires. It covers a pretty large region and area,” Panteleakis said.

“DOGE is just like everybody else in Boston: they forget that there's anything west of Worcester and then they’ve got to be reminded," he joked.

When NBC10 Boston reached out to the GSA about the listings on the DOGE website, Paul Hughes, a GSA spokesperson, wrote:

“GSA is reviewing all options to optimize our footprint and building utilization. A component of our space consolidation plan will be the termination of many soft term leases. To the extent these terminations affect public facing facilities and/or existing tenants, we are working with our agency partners to secure suitable alternative space. In many cases this will allow us to increase space utilization and obtain improved terms."

The Department of Government Efficiency has repeatedly posted data filled with mistakes and made claims that fall apart upon closer scrutiny. A list of “receipts” posted on the DOGE website last month included an item that claimed $8 billion savings found in a Department of Homeland Security contract. The contract was for $8 million. 

Last month, during a White House event with President Trump, DOGE leader and businessman Elon Musk admitted he and his team will make errors.

“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected,” Musk said. “Nobody is going to bat 1,000%. We will make mistakes, but we will act quickly to correct any mistakes.”

NBC10 Boston reached out to the White House on Thursday regarding the savings DOGE has claimed on their website and is waiting on a response.  

Some property owners confirmed to NBC10 that they received lease terminations.

Nicholas Deane owns the Stanley Mill in Uxbridge, which houses the Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Services.

“I got the cancellation notice a week ago,” he said. “It was so sudden that the US Veterinary Service office that is our tenant hadn't even heard.”

The owner of the Northborough building that houses the Geological Survey confirmed it got a lease cancellation.

Former Massachusetts Congressman Mike Capuano sits on the Public Buildings Reform Board, an independent agency that makes recommendations to the government about unused federal property.

Capuano told NBC10 that the board serves to “kind of nudge the GSA into reviewing their real estate portfolio to determine which buildings are either underutilized or too old to rehab and to make it more efficient. “

Capuano said the PBRB has raised approximately $400 million for taxpayers through sales of federal buildings, noting that money goes to a fund used to sell and to consolidate future buildings.

Earlier in March, the GSA announced that hundreds of federally owned properties were up for sale - including the John F. Kennedy and “Tip” O’Neill office complexes in Boston and the Volpe transportation center in Cambridge.

The next day, the GSA pulled the list from its website but hinted it’s coming soon.

Capuano told NBC10 Boston that list of properties did not come from the PBRB and it’s not a list his agency is working on. But he says there are still plenty of opportunities to cut underutilized office space.

“We are here to find inefficiencies, “Capuano said. “We're not going to suggest that a building is sold, or a lease gets terminated just because we don't like it. It'll be because it's inefficient, and there are other ways to do it more efficiently,” Capuano said.

The Massachusetts leases on the DOGE list are:

• Fish and Wildlife Service, Hadley (72,200 square feet)
• Natural Resources Conservation Service, Amherst (22,400 square feet)
• Geological Survey, Northborough (20,900 square feet)
• Internal Revenue Service, Lowell (36,800 square feet)
• Internal Revenue Service, Worcester (14,500 square feet)
• Internal Revenue Service, Springfield (14,000 square feet)
• Internal Revenue Service, Southborough (10,800 square feet)
• U.S. Trustees, Worcester (5,500 square feet)
• Drug Enforcement Administration, North Andover (5,300 square feet)
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Uxbridge (4,900 square feet)
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Sutton (1,300 square feet)
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Andover (4,900 square feet)
• National Park Service, Lowell (3,900 square feet)
• Agricultural Marketing Service, Everett (2,800 square feet)
• Food and Drug Administration, Boylston (2,400 square feet)
• Small Business Administration, Springfield (900 square feet)
• Employment Standards Administration, Springfield (600 square feet)

The New Hampshire leases on the DOGE list are:

• Geological Survey, Pembroke (12,560 square feet)
• Employment Standards Administration, Manchester (3,201 square feet)
• Mine Safety Health Administration, Portsmouth (3,161 square feet)
• Small Business Administration, Lebanon (959 square feet)
• International Trade Administration, Portsmouth (1,099 square feet)
• Natural Resources Conservation Service, Dover (6,988 square feet)