10 web developers couldn't even remotely come close to building/implementing a system like this. This is not a web development project but an enterprise integration project. What you see as "the website" is just the tip of the ice berg. It's like saying that a car is just a steering wheel and four wheels because that's all you "see" but you don't know what's going on "under the hood".

However, I do agree that the costs for this are extravagant and there are certainly signs of "government milking" visible here.