[mattmanser]

So long answer, short, you don't know.

I've not been watching them closely, but they are delivering, which seems an extremely strong indication they're not dysfunctional at all.

Every now and then I end up on a gov site they've redone and it's immediately obvious they've had at it because it's easy to use, responsive, etc.

You're sounding like one of those pointy haired bosses that don't understand that good developers play to succeed, and it doesn't always pay off. But if you stop them you end up with crap because the good people leave.

[code_not_curse]

Got to say it sounds like you were pretty far away too, but the page loads quick so it is ok they redeveloped the stack with Ruby, Scala, Go, and when they get bored and want to learn Elixir or Erlang, maybe they rewrite it again. After all, it is only our taxes paying for it.

Sounds more like a pointy haired boss to me.