"I really am not a fan of Crab, but I do fear this decision. If the sole driver behind this is cost, then it is bad for the UK and SAR in particular. Whilst I fully appreciate SAR(H) would have been a very sensible and reasonably economically sound programme with excellent platforms, this decision makes me think of a poorly funded and supported contract that will be regretted in the future. How can a company with CHC's experience be out by 20%? The DfT also do not have a good record- East Coast Mainline for example." Are the operators alone this time or have they all bid with partners (RBS, Thales, Lockheed, VT last time)? Sometimes in a contract like this there are other costs involved - particularly financing costs.
For example, Siemens won out over Bombardier for the Thameslink train contract because the Siemens train division were able to obtain much cheaper funding from the Siemens Group (Siemens have a bank licence) whereas Bombardier had to seek external financing. No big difference between the bids otherwise - just the financing aspect.