I've bought things (machine tools) from other government auctions in the past. It can be hit or miss, and inspecting items prior to purchase is absolutely essential. Generally speaking, all items are untested and photos are taken by someone who probably has no idea what a potential buyer would actually like to see, if there's even more than one photo of an item.
They also usually charge some type of auctioneer fee, possibly more fees on top of that. I think I wound up paying something like 30% more than my winning bid after taxes and fees. If you bid a lot, that can be substantial.
There are definitely some amazing deals that come out of government auctions (I feel I did pretty well..) but they're also far from secret, so educating yourself on the make/model and knowing what to look for, and knowing what fees are involved is critical. Fees they're very up front about, in my experience. Visiting to look at items is often restricted access (government facility) and limited to one or two days during normal business hours, so you may have to miss work to go look at things on their schedule.