It seems to be an interesting construct from what I read about it some days ago. Basically, these groups are businesses competing against each other, and the government itself can be their client. Their profit also depends on how wsought after the information they provide is. German source: https://www.heise.de/news/I-S00N-Leak-Verfassungsschuetzer-veroeffentlichen-Analysen-9822734.html

So they are government-approved, but don’t l aren’t government entities.