I think the only reason it would make sense to do (3) before (4) is that the government paid for your development and wants to be the first to use it. Because

I think the only reason it would make sense to do (3) before (4) is that the government paid for your development and wants to be the first to use it. Because they're more typically unique government payloads are typically much more expensive to lose in the case of a failure than another couple of commsats going into a constellation.