It is not uncommon for institutions that receive public funding to replace things that are not broken in order to avoid budget surpluses that could decrease their funding the following year.
Yep, can confirm. I worked in requisitions in a maintenance shop in the military, and September was always a ridiculous time.
"Hey, we have $120,000 to spend. Make it happen." I would then go to the different section chiefs and ask what they needed as spares. Some were reasonable requests, others were ridiculous. If we didn't spend the money, the budget would decrease the next year, and it would be hell getting that money back when a really expensive part died.
The hilarious thing is that the Inspector General's office is responsible for preventing this thing from happening... but if you go talk to their requisitions personnel around September, they're doing the exact same shit as everyone else.
