(Headline revised)
Looks to me like MARAD is sensing that it blundered with the RFQ. Today, it shortened the time from for completing the scope of work to 60 days instead of 6 months. (Hat tip to Tom Wesley who noted this on Facebook which prompted me to search for the revision.)
The revision is here.
Note that shortening the time doesn’t really solve the problem — it is impossible for any company, no matter what resources it has, to complete the Scope of Work in 60 days. This looks like window-dressing for the inevitable queries from Congress. If you are contacting your Senators and Representatives about this, point out the impossibility and that one solution is to limit the study to sea year only. They can do the rest of the study later — and without having to bypass the normal procurement process.