If they don't spend money then their budget shrinks and their empire shrinks.

It's a total waste of money but it doesn't matter as long as they have an excuse that works for their boss. It's all about plausible deniability.

Plausible deniability is also why higher-ups will buy expensive, bloated, enterprise software/hardware. If something goes wrong they can at least claim they bought "industry standard software". Which is something that can be fed to non-technical C-level execs and board members.