Revenge
Clearly anyone wishing to get back at the rear crew community might just slip the pen and put down every 6 days for night wets! Trouble is they would love it!
I do believe Tall SAR has a point! The airframe requirement is just one small part of the total package required by the competition. To say its MCA or its MOD just isn't true. What you can say is that it covers all the areas the current service does and, depending on choice of platforms made by the bidders, could cover a lot more too.
Crabb always assumes that the bidder will give the least amount? With 3 bidders still in the race, something has to put blue water between them so that eventually one gets selected. With a 30 year PFI, doing night wets every 10 days or 20 days will not alter the price of fish much! So, some will offer services that exceed the contract and offer value-for-money. That's a competition. The clever bit is getting the IPT to turn that into a contract so the higher level service is delivered for the lower level money! I think thats why its taking such a long time!