ABC = Annual Budgetary Cycle (well it did last Weds anyway).
This is a typical MOD response to the point made by Easy Street:
The annual planning round is a dreadful waste of staff effort and contributes to the problem of defence inflation.
Easy Street is, of course, absolutely right about this waste of effort.
The above was originally followed up by an expression of my thoughts on FOO, Annularity and a Number of other HQ budgets issues, but just as I was about to submit, I realised it had inevitably descended into a rant and I have therefore deleted it - I have taken some tablets and am now calming down.
STH
Edited to add that I am now much calmer, but wish to confirm (as if it were necessary) that changing from PRs to ABC does not appear to have made any difference to the amount of staff work required in dealing with the issue.