For those who followed the wave of VA contract reviews and terminations in 2025, a newly released VA Office of Inspector General review offers a clearer look at what was happening behind the scenes, including just how quickly acquisition teams were being asked to make decisions. One example stands out: on February 21, 2025, VA officials were directed to review 1,049 contract actions and given less than 11 hours to complete the reviews, obtain required senior-level approvals and submit their responses.
Not every office completed that review by the deadline. According to the OIG, the director of VA’s Category Management Support Office said VA senior advisers and Department of Government Efficiency representatives subsequently directed that the contracts be terminated regardless of the incomplete reviews. Reviews and justifications continued to come in, however, and the proposed list of contracts for termination decreased over the following weeks.
That was part of a much broader and fast-moving effort. From February through June, VA acquisition officials received at least 47 directions to justify contracts, terminate them, pause terminations or reinstate contracts. In some cases, offices had weeks to respond. In others, they had only hours to review hundreds of contract actions. Importantly, OIG found that VA established procedures intended to reduce the risk of terminating critical services. Offices were asked whether VA employees could perform the work, how quickly they could take it on and how termination would affect veterans. Despite challenges created by the speed and volume of the effort, OIG ultimately found that VA contracting officials generally complied with Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements when terminating contracts.
The final numbers also provide some perspective. OIG reviewed 2,210 unique contract actions appearing on lists associated with the effort and determined that 435 were ultimately terminated for convenience, with total contract values of about $1.1 billion. That figure represents the total value of the contracts, not the amount spent or termination settlement costs. Another 100 contract actions were initially terminated and later reinstated, while 1,675 were never terminated for convenience.
For GovCon growth executives, there is another notable data point. Of the 435 terminated contracts, 375, or 86%, were categorized as consulting services, predominantly including administrative management, program management and strategic communications. OIG also found inaccuracies in information initially provided to Congress, which VA subsequently worked to update and clarify. The review makes no recommendations requiring additional VA action.
For companies trying to make sense of the contract activity they saw in 2025, the review provides useful context around both the pace and the process. VA acquisition teams were working through a large volume of potential terminations on unusually short timelines, some initial reviews were not completed before termination directions were issued, and decisions continued to evolve as additional reviews and justifications came in. At the same time, OIG found that contracting officials generally complied with federal acquisition requirements when carrying out the terminations.
Read the full VA OIG Review of Contracts Terminated for Convenience.
