I would say there could have been improvements in the process. For some of the issues that have been brought to bear, I would think the most important ones concern the flow of information and the ability to obtain information from the secretariat. I would suggest as well that there could've been more information regarding the outcome of the scientific or expert reviews, as would be the case in other federal competitions of this type.
I agree with Dr. Carver that a site visit would have been immensely useful in terms of exchanging information and providing an opportunity to clarify points in the two proposals that in fact went forward.