"I said I wasn't going to post anymore and lasted nine days."  Don't worry about it, ITTR, no one took your statement seriously!  :)

I think it's extremely likely POET has been working hard on the strategic partner for some time.  And I would speculate that if they make a deal, the deal will not call for any (or much) up front money from the partner unless and until the consortium between POET and its partner are the winning bidder.  I also speculate that whoever the partner is, will be POET's partner throughout the quest to develop the GaAs platform in general (would make sense as opposed to having one working on the specific rfp and another working more in general, too entangled).  There may be some up front money tied to that, too, but I would guess very little, with the real money being made if they are successful and can commercialize the product beyond what the Indian government project entails.

Lots of guessing!