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Oracle is reportedly among a wave of tech giants hit by DOGE cuts, as defense secretary balks at ‘throwing more good taxpayer money after bad’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week $580 million in contract and funding cuts, impacting private companies that do business with the Pentagon. · Fortune · Daniel Ceng/Anadolu—Getty Images

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  • Oracle, the software behemoth, is reportedly among a group of tech companies whose contracts with the Department of Defense have been cut as a result of the Trump administration’s mass spending and workforce reductions. Tech firm Accenture, which also had a government contract terminated, warned earlier this month of the negative financial repercussions of the contract loss.

Oracle is one of the latest tech giants to be impacted by sweeping cuts to government contracts.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week the department would cut $580 million in funding, grants, and contracts—hitting companies that do business with the Pentagon.

Those cuts targeted the Defense Civilian Human Resources Management System (DCHRMS)—a personnel management software—as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, plus climate change and Covid research line items.

The DCHRMS initiative is based on Oracle software. Looking through contracts and defense websites, Bloomberg identified Oracle, in addition to defense and engineering firm Leidos, as among the companies affected by terminations, the outlet reported Friday.

“This program was intended to streamline a significant portion of the Department's legacy Human Resources (HR) information technology stack—an important mission we still need to achieve—but further investment in the DCHRMS project would be throwing more good taxpayer money after bad,” Hegseth said in a March 20 memo.

He added that the human resources project was six years behind schedule—with two more years needed until the program was operational—and more than $280 million over budget.

Oracle and the Defense Department did not respond to Fortune’s requests for comment.

The Defense Department awarded Oracle an HR management software contract in 2019, and the company said at the time its technology was used in more than 500 government organizations.

The major spending cuts are part of continued efforts by President Donald Trump’s administrations and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency to limit the power of the federal workforce and eliminate what the administration says are wastes in spending. The government spent about $759 billion on contracts in fiscal 2023, including $456 billion from the Department of Defense, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

More than half of the Defense Department's contract allotments are for services, including on professional, management, and logistics support. Musk’s own companies have benefitted from these contracts, receiving at least $20 billion from the federal government.