You can. It's exactly like setting up a web server. It just uses http upgrade protocol. Gov can easily set up relays, yes. It would not surprise me if they do, or have access. Most relays sit in well known data centers. A private relay is when you restrict access e.g. through a firewall, or to certain npubs via a filter policy. Often known as white listing.
Discussion
Yeah, can even do it with curl, now.

Wow, I didnt know. Very powerful.
I found that out, yesterday, looking for ways to ping the relays. I think it's pretty new.
Last month. Good stuff. That makes bundling stuff easier.
Wow, didn't know you could use cURL for websockets.