https://www.dotgov.gov/portal/web/dotgov/registration-proces... https://www.dotgov.gov/portal/web/dotgov/policy#10217335

It's really easy to imagine a lowly staffer with an unrealistic deadline or contractor deciding to register a .com to use for a demo and thinking they'll go through simply learning who the official contact is, getting the agency CIO / agency head to sign off, dealing with internal politics[1], etc. later and then never actually getting around to that part. At some point the argument probably became “Now we've advertised it too much to change”.

1. At large organizations both public and private I've seen this kind of fragmentation happen because person A wanted a project to exist and person B, who controlled DNS, thought it should be included in their application (horrible vendorware, the first big Cold Fusion project they personally managed which will be upgraded over their dead body, etc.).