No, they could, but when does the government every undercut its own budget? (think baseline budgeting, they will make sure to fill it over the five year period just so they can keep their department’s budget growing). It is a better ‘risk’ than a similar order to a private supplier.
The point is this isn’t a purchase, just a pricing contract.
People are going all chicken little over normal events. Stuff like this just keeps people living in fear instead of being empowered.
(Also, note that this seems to be an annual ‘fear’ people get. In 2009 people were freaking out over a similar order, 200 million to ICE - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2407642/posts )
The point is this isn’t a purchase, just a pricing contract.
How can a business guarantee to supply a customer up to 100,000,000 rounds with the understanding that your customer might not buy anything. How can you possibly plan for this?