This happens a lot.
A fair number of “open” Defense contracts are in “source selection” until the right company is selected as the winner. I’ve seen three rounds where the wrong company was picked in round one and another wrong company was picked in round two. They keep “studying” the matter until someone’s friend gets the contract. After that, any contract protest will be quickly rejected.
Same method they use when a Democrat is losing a close election. Just keep studying the results until those “lost” ballot boxes show up in someone’s trunk.