Washington DC, April 11 -- US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday announced the cancellation of IT service contracts worth $5.1 billion, impacting major firms such as Accenture and Deloitte, as part of a broader crackdown on what the Pentagon describes as unnecessary expenditures, media reports said.

In a memorandum dated April 10, Hegseth described the affected contracts as avoidable external spending on tasks that could be handled by Pentagon personnel.

Also on the chopping block is a $500 million IT help desk deal linked to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which the Pentagon believes duplicates services already provided by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

Friday's announcement follows another...