(Bloomberg) -- Executives at the US’s biggest management consulting firms are trying to shield tens of billions of dollars in federal contracts from scorched-earth spending cuts by the Trump administration.

One of their first moves: Getting a meeting with the former private equity executive pivotal in deciding what government business survives.

Josh Gruenbaum, 39, who previously worked at KKR & Co. Inc. and investment bank Moelis & Co., has been tapped by President Donald Trump for the top procurement role in the General Services Administration, normally a backwater appointment that’s been given new political heft amid Elon Musk’s cost-cutting crusade. Gruenbaum splits his time between New York and the nation’s capital, according to a GSA official.

In recent weeks, Gruenbaum has met with executives from the 10 highest-paid government consultants, including Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. and IBM Corp., who have sought to assure him they’re falling in line with Trump’s priorities.

“Conversations with the executives of these firms have been very positive and transparent,” Gruenbaum said. “Everyone around the table realizes that they are also owners of the federal balance sheet and the $36 trillion of debt. They know that this is a collective problem that we all have a responsibility to solve.”

GSA gave agencies until March 14 to justify their contracts with the firms, which also include industry giants such as Deloitte Consulting LLP and Accenture Federal Services, according to a memo viewed by Bloomberg News. GSA has simultaneously met with consulting executives to ascertain which projects are “mission-critical.”

Representatives of Accenture, Booz Allen, Deloitte and IBM didn’t respond to requests for comment.

GSA officials are reviewing the information federal agencies provided to determine which consulting projects are critical. The government will seek to renegotiate contracts it doesn’t cut.

So far, GSA has canceled 1,700 consulting contracts, according to internal data the agency provided to Bloomberg News, resulting in $4.5 billion in savings.

One of the largest consulting contracts GSA helped cancel was an $8.5 million Department of Health and Human Services pact with Deloitte, which was described as an effort to “improve management and program operations in order to drive innovation and improve efficiency and effectiveness of business services.”

DOGE Targets

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has taken aim at consulting deals as an example of what the administration deems wasteful spending.

GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian, previously a software entrepreneur, has said the 10 highest-paid consulting firms are set to receive $65 billion in fees from the government this year.

“This needs to, and must, change,” Ehikian wrote in the memo asking federal agencies to detail their contracts and explain why they’re essential.

Among the largest firms, Deloitte, which brought in $3.2 billion from government contracts last year, has been the hardest-hit, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of the list of canceled contracts posted on the DOGE website.

As of March 14, the list showed that the firm has had at least 25 contracts with agencies including the Social Security Administration, the US Agency for International Development and the Department of Housing and Urban Development scrapped this year.

The US outsources everything from building databases to reviewing evidence for legal proceedings to implementing international aid programs to consultancies. Agencies frequently hire them for projects the government doesn’t have the bandwidth or resources to handle.

Alongside Deloitte, Booz Allen, Accenture and IBM, the firms cited in the memo are General Dynamics Corp., Leidos Holdings Inc., Guidehouse, HII Mission Technologies Corp., Science Applications International Corp. and CGI Federal.

A SAIC spokesperson confirmed the company has met with GSA. General Dynamics, Guidehouse, HII and CGI Federal didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Changing Tone

As they fight for survival, several consulting firms are aligning themselves with the administration’s goals.

CGI Federal, which received $1.2 billion in government contracts last year, set up a website touting its work combating “waste, fraud and abuse,” echoing language that Musk’s group and Trump have used. The firm’s executives have told government agencies and the GSA they can help build tools to combat misuse of federal funds.

Leidos has taken up “fast-paced initiatives in the spirit of DOGE,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Bell said on a February earnings call. Brandon Ver Velde, a Leidos spokesperson, said that the company, which received US contracts worth $10.2 billion last year, supports “creating a dramatically more efficient and effective federal government that costs taxpayers less money.”

Investor unease has added to the pressure on some of the companies. Leidos has seen its shares decline 11% since Inauguration Day through Monday’s close. Shares of Booz Allen’s parent have fallen more than 15% in that time, while SAIC shares had shed 3%. SAIC executives said on a Monday earnings call that the effects of the federal cutbacks on the company have been limited so far.

David Berteau, president of the Professional Services Council, a trade group representing Deloitte, Accenture, Leidos, IBM and others, said the Trump administration is forcing the industry to explain its value.

“The agencies need input from industry to clarify and quantify the benefits of these contracts,” Berteau said.

Layoff Questions

A widespread termination of consulting contracts could prove costly for Washington-area workers. Booz Allen has about 15,000 employees in the area, while Leidos has about 11,000. Accenture has approximately 10,000 in its Federal Services division.

So far, the companies haven’t indicated that layoffs are coming. But privately, executives concede that they don’t know exactly where the government’s cost-cutting efforts are headed.

At Deloitte, consultants assigned to contracts that DOGE canceled are being reassigned, many to more stable state and local-level projects, according to two people familiar with the moves.

Historically, the US government has outsourced work when its own labor force shrinks, and Trump and Musk have made deep cuts. If contractors are forced to cut staff, the effect on government programs and services is hard to predict, said Jessica Tillipman, a government procurement law professor at the George Washington University.

“There are a lot of questions as to what is actually being canceled, and how this is being handled in such a short period of time,” said Tillipman.