I've worked with contractors that own have built web applications for the government.[1] Sadly this par for the course with respect to the scalability and usability of these sites. These teams are typically only concerned about following documentation processes and meeting their security standards. I can't cite anything to prove this, but I'm really not going the route of slander, just speaking from personal experience.
[1]http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2013/aca-contractors...