Government agencies can only order from GSA approved vendors at negotiated rates that are typically less than you or I can buy for. Unless the agency is affiliated with the Pentagon. They have their own system.
I have sold a lot to the government over the years, specifically Army and Navy. Their documentation requirements always quadruple the cost associated with producing anything for them.
I don't make $2 or $20 lynch pins, but I did work for a company that made $1.5M amplifiers, for which we charged the Army $5M each. The biggest singular difference between the $1.5M commercial product and the $5M military product, was the Biblical levels of testing, documentation and review required. In fact, we had to quadruple the test time allocation, and hire additional staff just to handle the documentation. The Army hired an outside firm to handle their end of specifying the documentation requirements, and then later reviewing and approving it all.
Having worked my whole life in commercial industry, where few things are documented as well as you'd like, and even if it were you can no longer find the required documents after key people leave the organization, I can appreciate why they go to these lengths. But it does come with a very definite cost.
The increased testing time and requirements were due to their anticipation of new requirements, yet unknown today, which would arise during the lifetime of the product. So, they requested that the product can perform and be tested for operating parameters which seem absolutely ridiculous today, but may save them from obsolescence when new threats are identified.
Similar systems went to other non-US military installations (UK, Turkey, etc.) for $3M'ish. Again, all dependent on the level of work required to get the installation approved. The US requirements were the most thorough, but also the most expensive in which to operate.
