I've applied to work government jobs (mostly case management type stuff) for PA before. I think once it took a good 3 months to hear back for an interview. By that point I had already found a position that I liked and declined the interview. I guess what I mean to say is be prepared for a long wait. If you can't wait then just take another position and if the government IT job does get back to you months from now, you can consider moving to that.