The contract was put out to tender and the lowest bidder won (helped of course by the demise in the Pound)
The MoD cannot specify in the tender contract to employ UK residents as it would preclude tender offers from domiciles where UK residents would not have the right to work. The tender process has been out for a while so why would the MoD extend the deadline to accomodate one tenderer? That would show bias in the tender process. The deadline was clearly spelled out and if the guys from Globespan could not meet the deadline that would have been their problem and not the MoD's. Now if the MoD would have given preferential treatment to a UK based operator, consulted BALPA, or not awarded it to the most cost efficient option there would have been more uproar. So now a few pilots are upset that the contract went offshore, I am pretty sure that that is of no concern to the MoD and the service personnel now enjoying a scheduled service again.