It is surprising that the Department of Government Efficiency, the agency tasked with auditing the entire federal government for “waste,” has struggled to maintain accurate records. Despite its purpose, the agency has repeatedly been forced to withdraw examples of alleged savings after it was discovered that they did not actually benefit taxpayers.

The latest instance of this phenomenon occurred over the weekend, when the agency, led by Elon Musk, or at least perceived to be, modified or removed over 40% of the more than 1,000 contracts it claimed to have canceled in the preceding week, according to the New York Times. This revision included the removal of five of the seven largest contracts the agency had claimed to have cut.

While the DOGE team, which includes a group of young engineers, deserves some credit for improving its record, this development represents a modest improvement over its previous performance. The week before, the agency was forced to remove all five of its largest claimed “savings” after minimal research revealed that the supposedly canceled contracts were being misrepresented.

The recent revisions included a $1.9 billion contract for IRS tech support that, contrary to the agency’s claims, had actually been canceled by the Biden administration in November. Additionally, a $133 million contract from USAID for work in Libya had been canceled the previous year and was unrelated to DOGE. Furthermore, a $149 million contract supposedly for administrative assistants at the Department of Health and Human Services was linked to a different contract with a different company and amount, and was also removed from the savings list, according to the Times.

These errors can be added to the existing list of mistakes, including the significant blunder of recording an $8 million contract as an $8 billion savings, a $655 million cut to USAID that DOGE counted three times, and a supposed $232 million cut at the Social Security Administration that actually only cut a $560,000 provision within the larger contract.

The agency responsible for tracking government spending continues to be plagued by errors. While Elon Musk acknowledged that DOGE “will make mistakes,” it is starting to appear that this is a fundamental aspect of its operation rather than an anomaly.

According to the New York Times, DOGE’s initial claim of saving $16 billion last week has been revised downward to under $9 billion, assuming the agency’s other contract cuts are accurate. When combined with NPR’s research that $46.5 billion of the agency’s first $55 billion in reported savings lacked a documented source, it raises questions about the effectiveness of the entire operation.

Moreover, the cost of operating DOGE remains unclear, leaving one to wonder if the math ultimately adds up.