Alongside extensive reductions to the staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Trump administration has asked the agency to cut $2.9 billion of its spending on contracts, according to three federal officials with knowledge of the matter.
The administration’s cost-cutting program, called the Department of Government Efficiency, asked the public health agency to sever roughly 35 percent of its spending on contracts about two weeks ago. The C.D.C. was told to comply by April 18, according to the officials.
The cuts promise to further hamstring an agency already reeling from the loss of 2,400 employees, nearly one-fifth of its work force.
On Tuesday, the administration fired C.D.C. scientists focused on environmental health and asthma, injuries, violence prevention, lead poisoning, smoking and climate change.
The reduction in contracts is “a strategic initiative” across all divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services, “with the goal of cutting unnecessary spending, saving taxpayer dollars and streamlining operations,” Emily Hilliard, the department’s deputy press secretary, said in an emailed statement.
“Every agency within H.H.S. is committed to reducing contract expenditures by this target,” she said. “These cuts are designed to ensure that every dollar is used more efficiently while continuing to focus on our core mission of improving public health and services.”
Abruptly cutting 35 percent of contracts would be tough for any organization or business, said Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, who advised the Biden administration during Covid.
“Sure, any manager can find small savings and improvements, but these kinds of demands are of the size and speed that break down organizations,” he said. “This is not the way to do good for the public or for the public’s health.”
The C.D.C.’s largest contract, about $7 billion per year, goes to the Vaccines for Children Program, which purchases vaccines for parents who may not be able to afford them.
That program is mandated by law and will not be affected by the cuts, according to one senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But other C.D.C. contracts include spending on computers and other technology, security guards, cleaning services and facilities management. The agency also hires people to build and maintain data systems and for specific research projects.
Over the past several years, contracts have also supported activities related to Covid-19, one official said.
Separately, H.H.S. last week abruptly discontinued C.D.C. grants of about $11.4 billion to states that were using the funds to track infectious diseases and to support mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues.
At least some of the contracts may not be implemented because the people overseeing them have been dismissed.
The administration recently told the C.D.C. to cut grants to Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania, saying those institutions had failed to take action against antisemitism on campus.
“Funding grants and contracts are the mechanism by which we get things done,” said one C.D.C. scientist who asked to remain anonymous because of a fear of retaliation.
“They are cutting off our arms and legs.”
