Pentagon Cancels $5.1 Billion in Consulting and IT Contracts

April 11, 2025 TruthUSA

The recent set of contract cancellations will elevate the Department of Defense’s overall spending reduction to nearly $6 billion, according to the Pentagon chief.

The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to eliminate $5.1 billion in consulting and IT contracts deemed non-essential by Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth, as stated in a memo dated April 10.

In the memo, Hegseth instructed the DOD to terminate a Defense Health Agency contract with Accenture, Deloitte, and other firms for services that he asserted “can be carried out by our civilian workforce.”

Additional contracts slated for cancellation include an Air Force agreement with Accenture to resell third-party Enterprise Cloud IT Services, a Navy contract concerning business process consulting services, and a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for IT help desk support.

Hegseth noted that these contracts symbolize “non-essential spending on third-party consultants” for services that highly skilled DOD staff could deliver using existing resources.

“We need this funding to improve healthcare for our warfighters and their families, rather than spending $500 an hour on a business process consultant,” he mentioned in a social media video. “That’s quite a bit of consulting.”

Deloitte and Accenture did not provide comments by the time of publication.

Additionally, Hegseth has called for the cancellation of 11 more contracts related to consulting services for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), climate initiatives, COVID-19 measures, and other nonessential departmental activities.

“We are determined to eliminate DEI—completely—throughout this department, and we have uncovered 11 more contracts. Our search will continue,” the Pentagon chief remarked.

Last month, Hegseth issued a separate memo directing the cancellation of over $580 million in “wasteful spending,” including a software development initiative for the Defense Civilian Human Resources Management System and grants tied to DEI and climate issues.

He also mandated the cancellation of a $9 million university grant for creating “equitable AI and machine learning models,” asserting that the DOD needs lethal machine learning models instead.

According to Hegseth, the DOD has suspended over $500 million in funding to Northwestern University and Cornell University this week, alongside $70 million already on hold at four other academic establishments that he labeled “tolerant of anti-Semitism and supportive of divisive DEI agendas.”

This latest series of contract cancellations is expected to push the DOD’s total spending reductions to nearly $6 billion within the first six weeks of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) initiatives to eradicate wasteful spending, Hegseth noted.

“[DOGE’s] mission is to identify areas we can eliminate so that resources can be redirected toward enhancing war-fighting capabilities here at the Defense Department,” he articulated in the April 10 video.

On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming the current U.S. Digital Service as DOGE, assigning it the task of reviewing federal agencies for potential downsizing and cost-saving measures. The order indicates that DOGE’s work is anticipated to conclude by July 4, 2026.

To facilitate audits, DOGE has been granted access to federal systems, which has ignited legal challenges from certain Democratic lawmakers and labor unions who argue that such access violates constitutional rights.

In line with the Trump administration’s goal of curtailing governmental expenditures, the DOD has halted 91 studies, covering topics from climate-related issues to global migration patterns and social trends. The DOD has stated that discontinuing these studies will save the government more than $30 million within the first year.

The DOD indicated that it will realign resources toward “crucial technologies necessary for upholding a robust national defense” and will focus on funding research aimed at developing and deploying advanced military capabilities.

The department intends to invest in critical areas such as “hypersonic weapons advancement, AI-driven systems for improved battlefield awareness, and strengthening the domestic military industrial base.”

Hegseth has also guided military officials to pinpoint $50 billion in potential cuts from the former Biden administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget that could be realigned away from low-priority Biden-era programs and redirected toward Trump’s defense priorities.

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