DOGE Announces Cancellation of Leases for 30 FDA Sites Across 22 States

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has declared the termination of leases for various Food and Drug Administration (FDA) facilities nationwide, as part of the effort to reduce expenses within the federal government.

This includes the cancellation of leases at 30 FDA locations, which had a combined annual lease expense exceeding $8.62 million. According to DOGE, these lease terminations will save more than $29.61 million, with potential savings projected over the varying lease durations.

The 30 leases accounted for a total area of 247,399 square feet spread across 22 states, including Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, California, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Missouri, Wisconsin, Utah, North Carolina, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Nebraska.

California led the list with five FDA sites undergoing lease cancellations, while Florida, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Tennessee each had two sites affected. The remaining 17 states experienced one lease termination each.

DOGE noted that the advisory team is “committed to publishing all of our financial records in a clear and accessible format in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.”

Related Stories

Other affected departments include the General Services Administration, Department of State, Social Security Administration, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Government Accountability Office, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Archives Centers, Geological Survey, Federal Trade Commission, and Small Business Administration.

Agencies have 30 days from the order’s issuance to conduct this review, with the goal of ensuring transparency in government spending and holding employees accountable to the American public.

With respect to real estate leases, the order mandated that “each Agency Head shall promptly identify all termination rights the Agency Head may have under existing leases of Government-owned real property.”

Following this, agency heads must consult their DOGE team lead and the Administrator of General Services or their designee to determine whether to exercise those rights.

As of March 5, DOGE indicated a projected $105 billion in savings, translating to over $652 per taxpayer.

The savings resulted from a combination of contract/lease cancellations, renegotiations, asset sales, and workforce simplifications.

New Leadership

The lease terminations for the FDA occur during a transitional phase for the agency. A new administration in the White House has led to the succession of former FDA commissioner Dr. Robert Califf by Dr. Sara Brenner, a preventative medicine physician currently acting as the head of the agency. Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon from John Hopkins, is expected to become the next FDA commissioner pending Senate approval.

In mid-February, the Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees 13 agencies, including the FDA.

“I realize that the issue lies within the system and not the individuals,” he stated last month. Restructuring agencies under the HHS “will restore their reputations as reliable sources of scientific information, guiding policy for medical professionals, the public, and the world.”

“We will work to eliminate conflicts of interest on committees and with research partners, or offset them with other stakeholders,” he added.

Kennedy expressed his intent to make data and policy processes within the department “so transparent that a FOIA request won’t even be necessary.”