That's not really relevant to the GGP comment, though. The government can take the tax money and contract out the development work on an app. Or use cheap student labor.
But they can't contract the work out to anyone they want. There are strong regulations on how the government can contract work, which are often a proximate cause of poor quality.
Sorry, but GGP said they'd never seen a successful government app. GP replied with an example of one. Parent discounted that example because it wasn't coded by a government employee (in effect moving the goalposts). My point is that it's irrelevant whether a government employee or an outside party created the app. It's still a government app, providing access and information about government-provided services. Unless you think the Seattle mass transit system is a private-sector company.