It's the government... they have 30 different services just in that department, made by 30 different companies with 30 different support companies, two of those don't exist anymore, 3 have been bought by cisco, two by google, 2 services are behind some old palo alto web proxy that's centrally managed by some other department, one service is written in cobol, one requires the cert to be on a usb flash drive and another on a memory stick.
It's cheaper to pay someone just to take care of the certs (unless their bosses and procurement and accounting messes up) than to fix all that.
I've seen government stuff, i wouldn't touch it with a 5m pole.
I don't see how any of that is the CA's problem. As far as I'm concerned, the CA's and browser vendors are entirely in the right to go "Here's the new rules. Adapt. Or don't, we don't care."
Well, they didn't, and you have to click through "i understand" (or whatever) to see the contents from servers with expired certs. Usually you need files from them and not vice-versa, sp as far as they're concerned, it's your problem now.
I guess it depends on the country. Where I live they’d be on the hook in somehow safely providing me with the files if they were involved in me fulfilling some kind of legal obligation to them, and I’d be off the hook if they refused.
It's cheaper to pay someone just to take care of the certs (unless their bosses and procurement and accounting messes up) than to fix all that.
I've seen government stuff, i wouldn't touch it with a 5m pole.