From the FCCs recent news release:
FCC's Initial Contract Review Saves Taxpayers Millions of Dollars
"...No stone is being left unturned. To date, we have reduced more than $567 million in authorized contract spending, including by ending bloated or unnecessary IT contracts. This is an important step towards ensuring long-term efficiency and maintaining our focus on the FCC’s core responsibilities... ...the FCC has reduced the total contract ceiling value by more than $567 million..
..More broadly, the Commission is working to improve agency efficiency by removing unnecessary rules
and regulations. Its “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative seeks to identify outdated and overly burdensome regulations ... seeks to terminate over 2,000 official proceedings that have become dormant and no longer serve a purpose for the American people.
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-411428A1.pdf
It makes me wonder what exactly "IT contracts" are that by eliminating them they saved over five hundred million dollars..
Google tells me:
"IT contracts are legal agreements that define the terms and conditions of business relationships in the information technology (IT) sector. They cover various aspects like software development, licensing, cloud services, data processing, and IT outsourcing, outlining the rights and obligations of all parties involved."
These kinds of government statements are the ultimate in obfuscation.
They're really only eliminating budget line items. And the fact of the matter is that day to day operations rely on some of these budget line items. There may be contracts you can't get out of, contracts with penalty clauses, or you may be reliant on some services that just can't be eliminated.
Just by eliminating the budget line items doesn't necessarily mean that you're not going to spend the money (which is a whole different thing).
"saves". Perhaps what they mean is they will not spend it. "Saves" is retail gobbledygook to convince you not to have buyer regret.
Looks and sounds like smoke and mirrors to me.
Exactly. That's essentially what government budgeting is.