Bell appear to be saying that the FAA have now increased scrutiny on self certification And [apparently] finding grounds for criticism in the Bell system.
Which begs the question..... are there Max type technical errors in the product line?
Kill 250 at a time in a jetliner and there is rightly a furore but the deaths of a few here and there cause less concern [until something large and Airbus drops into the North Sea]
The regime of self certification may be behind the unchecked ‘errors of judgement’ that led to the creation of the 427 that did not meet JAR requirements [fuel Tanks in the cabin]. Unlike the MD900 that had similar non-compliance issues the answer was not modification, they had to go the whole way with a new 429.