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Federal contract terminations

69,055 federal contract awards had at least one termination or cancellation action in FY2025, held by 11,375 vendors, according to USAspending's contract archive. Department of Defense recorded the most, 30,427.

By year and reason

Terminated contract awards rose from 20,658 in FY2015 to 69,055 in FY2025, below FY2022’s 81,853

Contract awards with at least one termination or cancellation action in each fiscal year, and by the FPDS reason recorded. An award can carry two reasons, so the reasons do not add up to the total.

Termination for convenience, code F, includes partial terminations, so a contract counted in that line may continue in part.

The record says which reason was entered, not why. Nothing here says whether a termination was justified.

Source: USAspending

About this chart

The figures

Terminated contract awards rose from 20,658 in FY2015 to 69,055 in FY2025, below FY2022’s 81,853. Contract awards with at least one termination or cancellation action in each fiscal year, and by the FPDS reason recorded. An award can carry two reasons, so the reasons do not add up to the total.
Fiscal yearAll terminationsTerminated for defaultTerminated for convenienceLegal contract cancellationTerminated for cause
FY201520,6582918,98410,979442
FY201627,63126810,65116,405341
FY201728,50020411,63516,211473
FY201830,08719312,85216,631432
FY201934,20117717,03916,574421
FY202063,34920147,55415,212402
FY202166,24519150,01815,522532
FY202281,85315461,79419,625302
FY202378,58822156,11021,877384
FY202458,23320339,86617,762416
FY202569,05520949,62118,834421

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In FY2025, 209 awards recorded “terminated for default”, 49,621 awards recorded “terminated for convenience”, 18,834 awards recorded “legal contract cancellation”, and 421 awards recorded “terminated for cause”. The companies: by vendor and by parent company.

By awarding agency, FY2025

58 agencies recorded at least one termination. The obligation change is the net of those modifications, not the value of the contracts.

1 more column on a wider screen

Federal contract awards terminated or canceled, by awarding agency, FY2025
AgencyAwardsVendors
Department of Defense30,4275,330
General Services Administration25,2611,597
Department of Health and Human Services2,6471,193
Agency for International Development2,276550
Department of Veterans Affairs1,089715
Department of Agriculture1,061543
Department of the Interior829487
Department of the Treasury796458
Department of Homeland Security620380
U.S. Agency for Global Media620121
Department of State616307
Department of Transportation391243
Department of Commerce389291
Department of Justice307153
Department of Energy174112
Department of Housing and Urban Development166113
Environmental Protection Agency14778
Department of Education14558
Department of Labor11976
Social Security Administration10979
Millennium Challenge Corporation10481
National Aeronautics and Space Administration8882
Securities and Exchange Commission8156
Office of Personnel Management7947
National Science Foundation5637
Small Business Administration5047
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau4335
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service4036
Corporation for National and Community Service3727
Federal Communications Commission3632
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation3328
Commodity Futures Trading Commission2926
Nuclear Regulatory Commission2621
Institute of Museum and Library Services2316
Peace Corps1614
Executive Office of the President154
National Labor Relations Board1513
Consumer Product Safety Commission1310
Federal Trade Commission88
International Trade Commission88
National Gallery of Art88
Smithsonian Institution88
Federal Maritime Commission77
Government Accountability Office77
National Archives and Records Administration76
National Transportation Safety Board66
National Endowment for the Humanities43
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation44
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency33
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board22
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission22
Export-Import Bank of the United States22
Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency11
Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation11
National Endowment for the Arts11
Railroad Retirement Board11
Selective Service System11
United States Trade and Development Agency11

What this data cannot show

  • A termination records that a contract ended early and under which FPDS reason. It does not record why, and nothing here says whether a termination was justified.
  • The obligation on a termination is that modification’s net change to the contract, usually a de-obligation. It is not the contract’s value, and it is not a saving.
  • Code F, termination for convenience, covers partial as well as complete terminations, so a contract counted here may continue in part.
  • Awards are counted once each, however many termination actions they carry. A General Services Administration schedule order is an award, so a vendor that fills many small orders can lead by count while its obligations are small.
  • Before April 2022 contractors were identified by DUNS number rather than UEI, so one company can appear under two identifiers across that change.
  • This is the prime contractor named on the award. A parent company is the one each vendor reports; a vendor that reports none is its own parent.
  • USAspending reports contract actions as agencies submitted them to FPDS. It is not an audited financial statement.

Related

Sources

Compiled automatically from USAspending Award Data Archive — contracts by a checked SQL query · Editor: Kian O'Connor · How this site is built

Data retrieved