Considering the date or production, a Wave would have been a better choice. But that probably would have set the bottom line too high.
I don't know right off the top of my head what Gerber's keychain tool offerings were at that time. I awlso don't know much (if anything) about the intricacies of DoD procurement. But I'd think they'd strongly favor an American-made item over an equivalent made in China, even if the latter is much less expensive.