Methinks: They were told to make a green round, then - after making one - told it would go nowhere if it didn’t actually perform significantly better.
Heart-warming I'm sure for the different levels of Army Materiel Command but not at all reassuring for the men going "outside the wire".
I was assigned to the Joint Service Small Arms Program (JSSAP) some time ago and I remember all of the scurrilous gyrations they went through to "prove" that the 9mm was far more devastating than the .45. Integrity isn't part of the process in today's Pentagon.