I'm surprised those Norwegian Frigates wouldn't be in consideration, actually.Couple of factors.
1. The Norge ships are only designed for 2x8cell Mk41. While that's enough for local area defence, it's a bit light if you want to carry ASROC or cruise.
2. SPY 1F is a 1st gen system, old hasn't been updated, and pretty much an orphan. It's also passive, heavy, power consuming and expensive
correcting all that will take time and money
OTOH, the basic F-100 while bigger (steel is cheap, air is free) is designed for 48 Mk41 cells. And Navantia is already working on a version with a cheaper, more modern, and cheaper active phased array radar system
. CEAMOUNT and CEAFAR-S are already operational and the initial phase 2 ship design is scheduled to be available by the end of the year.
You make good points about the Norwegian ship BUT the article says that the USCG National Security Cutter is under consideration. As I noted in a prior post, it has ZERO VLS cells and the TRS-3D radar on it is ... well ... the best radar $6M can buy. Which is to say it's totally inadequate for any naval missile engagement scenario. So significant hull modifications to add VLS cells and a new superstructure probably needed. I suppose those things would have eliminated the vessel from consideration but in shipbuilding for the government politics is a significant factor. Heck that's why there are still two LCS variants in active production rather than just one downselected one, as per original plan. Lots of jobs involved and Senators and Congressmen have big sway over where work goes.
The truth is this vessel is most likely to be built at either Bath Iron Works in Maine or Ingalls in Pascagoula, MS. Ingals has much more capacity. BIW has good political support and they do great work. Marinette Marine could still play into it, as could Austal, but I'd guess it comes down to the two I mentioned first, especially since they (1) were not part of LCS and (2) are the ones that are most impacted by any end to Burke class production.
My prediction: they will pick a design (probably F-100 since it's more suitable than the National Security Cutter) and then split production between those two yards with BIW as the lead yard. You heard it here first!