Nutlose,
We do know the official date of submission, however we do not know the circumstances surrounding it, hence my point.
"Estimated Issue Date" is the CAA equivalent of the "please allow up to 28 days for delivery" you see when ordering something with coupons from a cornflakes packet, an arbitrary target date.
It may have been perfectly reasonable to submit when they did (in the "get it in the system and we'll negotiate" scenario).*
It may have been a monumental balls up due to timing (i.e. if the only thing holding it up was the papework).
It may have been submitted as a last ditch effort (i.e. "I don't think we'll make the conditions but if the paperwork is in at least we have a chance").
When we actually find out what the true circumstances were I'll happily join the lynch mob going after whichever arsehole was at fault, but without that information we can't even state with any degree of confidence whether it was submitted too late. To do so is nothing but conjecture and assumption.
Jamie
*It's worth re-iterating that this is a perfectly plausible and reasonable scenario in light of their accomodating attitude last year. As another poster said, you don't get the CAA to bend over backwards for a your average Cessna, someone there wants this to succeed more than your average PTF aircraft...