DOGE's favorite consulting firm

Politico

17 hours ago

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For months, DOGE has made a show of targeting the government's biggest consulting contractors as examples of taxpayer-funded bloat. In March, the Trump administration demanded that agencies justify their relationships with firms like Accenture, Deloitte and Booz Allen. By June, the General Services Administration had sent formal letters to McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, EY and others as part of a sweeping review of consulting expenditures.
'Based on available procurement data, we have identified the 10 highest paid consulting firms listed below are set to receive over $65 billion in fees in 2025 and future years. This needs to, and must, change,' STEPHEN EHIKIAN, now deputy acting GSA administrator, wrote in the March letter.
But while DOGE targets the major players, Ehikian and other DOGE leaders are also relying on the help of one lesser-known firm that has quietly emerged as a trusted partner for DOGE, according to private agency records viewed by POLITICO.
That firm is MSI Consulting, a small outfit with around 40 employees working under contract at GSA, an epicenter of DOGE in the federal government, according to the documents.
Half a dozen MSI consultants have worked closely with DOGE leaders including Ehikian, JOSH GRUENBAUM, THOMAS SHEDD and MATT PARKHURST-SESSION as executive assistants, according to agency records and two people familiar with the dynamics granted anonymity to discuss them. They've been providing important behind-the-scenes coordination that's allowed DOGE to execute its high-profile agenda, including managing calendars, preparing slide decks and other operational support, the people said.
MSI staff have helped organize meetings on agency downsizing, including USDA's recent reorganization, and have taken part in discussions about real estate consolidation, IT audits and artificial intellligence projects across the federal government, according to one of the two people familiar with the internal dynamics granted anonymity to discuss them.
The irony? These same MSI employees have been involved in meetings between DOGE leaders and some of the very firms previously under fire from the administration but now seeking to make nice or pitch new services to GSA. MSI COO ANDREW STEGMAIER has played a direct role in carrying out these requests on behalf of Ehikian, according to internal records.
MSI worked with GSA during the Biden administration and the company's scope at GSA extends beyond supporting DOGE.
Other consulting firms including Censeo Consulting and RMA Associates also have a presence at GSA, but no firm has been more directly involved with DOGE work than MSI consulting, according to agency records reviewed by POLITICO.
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POTUS PUZZLER
President DONALD TRUMP remains in Scotland today, the birthplace of his mother MARY ANNE MacLEOD TRUMP. Who was the first president to boast Scottish ancestry?
WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT
JERSEY GIRL: A criminal defense attorney in New Jersey is pushing to get charges against his client tossed by arguing that the Trump administration illegally maneuvered to keep ALINA HABBA as the state's top federal prosecutor, despite the expiration of her 120-day tenure, our RY RIVARD, KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN report. The problems for the U.S. Attorney's Office could grow if other defense attorneys file similar motions.
The Oval
DEAL OR NO DEAL? The European Union admitted today it doesn't have the power to deliver on a promise to invest $600 billion in the United States economy, only hours after making the pledge at landmark trade talks in Scotland. That's because the cash would come entirely from private sector investment over which Brussels has no authority, two EU officials told POLITICO Europe's GREGORIO SORGI.
Meanwhile, the EU's pledge to buy $250 billion worth of U.S. oil, natural gas and nuclear fuels per year for three years, is seen as more aspirational than realistic, the Wall Street Journal's GEORGI KANTCHEV and ED BALLARD report. Purchases of that size would require a major rearrangement of energy flows, and it isn't clear whether U.S. companies could even export that much.
AND ABOUT THOSE ARMS: The EU-U.S. trade deal is unlikely to increase the amount of U.S. weapons purchased by EU countries beyond what was already planned, POLITICO Europe's CHRIS LUNDAY and LAURA KAYALI report. While Trump on Sunday said the EU would buy 'vast amounts' of American weapons, European officials – much more quietly – said nothing concrete on arms had been agreed to.
WINDOWS INTO DIPLOMACY: Trump today used part of his bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister KEIR STARMER in Turnberry, Scotland to tout his golf course. It's the latest example of how Trump mixes international diplomacy with boosting his family's business empire, the Washington Post's CAT ZAKRZEWSKI and EMILY DAVIES report.
'If you take a look at the windows in the various dining rooms, they're magnificent,' Trump said during his meeting with Starmer in a minutes-long aside to discuss his property. White House officials noted that the golf courses are held in a trust managed by Trump's children.
In the Courts
NO ALLIGATOR WARDENS HERE: Legal challenges are gathering steam to the Trump administration's bid to outsource immigration detention to the state of Florida at the so-called Alligator Alcatraz jail deep in the Everglades, Josh writes in.
U.S. District Judge RODOLFO RUIZ held a 90-minute hearing today on a lawsuit the ACLU filed last month over a lack of access to lawyers and immigration courts for prisoners kept at the makeshift jail built at a site once planned as an airport for supersonic aircraft.
Ruiz, a Miami-based Trump appointee, said a 'paramount' issue in the case is whether the state or federal government is in charge. 'There seems to be some confusion as to who exactly is running the show at Alligator Alcatraz,' the judge said, saying he'll consider ordering the state and feds to quickly turn over any written agreements to the ACLU.
Ruiz set a hearing for Aug. 18 on the group's request for improved communications with detainees and an expected bid to move the suit to central Florida. 'Anything that tries to transform the court into the warden of Alligator Alcatraz is not going to happen here,' the judge warned.
MAXWELL APPEALS TO SCOTUS: GHISLAINE MAXWELL, the co-conspirator of JEFFREY EPSTEIN, made a final plea to the Supreme Court today to take up her appeal of her sex-trafficking conviction. But defense lawyer DAVID MARKUS made clear she's simultaneously making the case to Trump that he should pardon her or commute her 20-year prison sentence, Josh writes in.
'We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein's crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted,' Markus wrote on X, days after Maxwell sat for an unusual two-day interview by Deputy Attorney General TODD BLANCHE.
Maxwell's appeal argues that a controversial non-prosecution deal Epstein entered into with federal prosecutors in South Florida in 2007 protects Epstein's associates like Maxwell from prosecution. The Justice Department has argued the agreement did not bind federal prosecutors in Manhattan, where Epstein and Maxwell were charged about five years ago. Lower courts agreed.
The Supreme Court is expected to announce in September or October whether it will take up Maxwell's case.
Agenda Setting
UNDOING MAJOR CLIMATE RULES: The Trump administration is planning to release a proposal Tuesday that would overturn a 16-year-old scientific finding that has allowed three administrations to regulate climate pollution, POLITICO's E&E News' JEAN CHEMNICK and ZACK COLMAN report.
Revising the so-called endangerment finding for greenhouse gases would represent a milestone in the administration's efforts to weaken the government's authority to curtail carbon emissions from the energy and automotive industries, among others. It will be paired with a proposal for rolling back climate rules for cars and trucks.
VITAMIN DEFICIENCY: Health Secretary ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. often speaks about how many vitamins he takes, causing many in the industry to believe their moment had arrived when he was confirmed. But STEVE MISTER, chief executive of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, says his initial excitement about having an ally in the administration has given way to disappointment, our AMANDA CHU reports.
Mister's concerns underscore the tensions facing Kennedy ahead of the release of his final Make America Healthy Again report in August, which will include recommendations to fight chronic disease.
DISASTER WARNING: Trump's plans to remake FEMA are bringing to the fore a paradox of disaster policy, The Economist reports. Disaster aid has typically come from the federal government, but decisions about how to use land — such as whether a building should go up in a flood-prone area — are made by local leaders.
The Trump administration's decision about how to remake FEMA — the agency was originally going to be taken apart; more recently, administration officials say it will be revamped — should force states to think about reducing their risks related to climate change, Harvard professor SUSAN CRAWFORD told the publication.
What We're Reading
What is DOGE without Elon Musk? (Bloomberg's Cam Kettles and Gregory Korte)
How NASA engineered its own decline (The Atlantic's Franklin Foer)
Researchers quietly planned a test to dim sunlight. They wanted to 'avoid scaring' the public. (POLITICO's Corbin Hiar)
POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER
JAMES MONROE, the fifth U.S. president, was the nation's first to come from Scottish ancestry. Monroe's paternal great-great-grandfather left Scotland for the U.S. in the 17th century.