Overview

• A February executive order gave the VA 30 days to audit contracts, and a DOGE-built AI tool flagged over 2,000 agreements as “munchable.”
• Procurement and AI experts found the model misread dollar amounts and applied vague criteria that misclassified essential services as cancelable.
• Although VA staff reviewed the AI’s recommendations, roughly 600 contracts have been terminated so far, including agreements for gene sequencing and nursing care tools.
• Internal documents reveal DOGE proposed consolidating the benefits claims department around AI to cut processing times for the VA’s 2 million annual disability applications.
• The VA is now auditing all 76,000 contracts and weighing wider AI deployments, while committing to safeguard services that directly affect veteran care.