April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

has ordered the termination of several information technology

services contracts valued at $5.1 billion, including companies

such as Accenture ( ACN ) and Deloitte, according to a Pentagon memo.

The pacts "represent non-essential spending on third party

consultants" for services Pentagon employees can perform,

Hegseth said in the memo released late on Thursday.

"These terminations represent $5.1 billion in wasteful

spending" Hegseth said, adding that their termination would

result in "nearly $4 billion in estimated savings."

Representatives for Accenture ( ACN ) and Deloitte and

Booz Allen Hamilton ( BAH ), also among those with contracts,

did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The contracts appeared to be wide-ranging cuts to consulting

services for the Navy, the Air Force, the Defense Advanced

Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Defense Health Agency.

In a video posted on X, Hegseth said the contracts were for

"ancillary things like consulting and other non-essential

services." He said the services would be brought in-house.

In the memo Hegseth said he was directing the Pentagon's

chief information officer to work over the next 30 days with

tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency

to prepare a plan to cut and in-source the Defense Department's

information technology consulting and management services.

Additionally, the memo said the Pentagon would negotiate the

"most favorable rates" for cloud computing services.