I’m not sure I quite understand your point, but what I do understand seems like the exact opposite of my experience.

We were required to fire a certain number of rounds through the gun I worked on to satisfy our training requirements. Let’s say it was 100/year.

We planned to fire 20 per quarter in the first 3 quarters of the year and then the remaining 40 as close to the end of the year as possible.

That way if we actually needed to use the gun for something “real” we were less likely to go over the allotted amount.

In fact, in all the budgets we had, never going over was hugely important. So was never being under which is maybe what you are referencing. In all of our budgets we would always pinch every possible penny for the first 3 quarters and then make sure to spend exactly 100% of the budget in the last few months of the year.

But this phenomenon isn’t exactly unique to government.