Stinger10-
You are definitely a hardened skeptic. Personally, I can see why the JMR program management ultimately decided to give the flight demonstrator contracts to Sikorsky and Bell. The resources these large OEMs have available to commit to this project were a major factor. But you have to appreciate that two very small companies (AVX and Karem) were even given the opportunity and equal funding to compete in the initial study phases of this program by the JMR management. They made the competition as fair as they could.
Recall that EC dropped out of the JMR competition because they felt the amount of funding provided was only a small fraction of what it would cost to build the demonstration aircraft, and not worthwhile for them to pursue.