24.3.C.2. At least two (2) System Bids must be awarded each calendar year. These awards must occur no more than eight (8) months apart, one in the period January through June and the other in the period July through December.
From this I get four possible dates.
-- the last bid opened 14 July so 8 months is 14 March
-- the last bid closed 26 July so 8 months is 26 March
-- the last bid was run "in July" so 8 months later is "in March," so it could be as late as 31 March
-- the last bid was called "12-08" so 8 months after "08" is April, so it could be as late as 30 April
The fact is they can miss any of these dates and who's going to say or do anything about it? The last two monthly bid cycles they weren't able to comply the opening of the bid period. In January PBS simply was unavailable at 10 am. After a mad scramble it opened 8 hours late with a mea culpa and the pilots getting punished by having to wait even longer than normal to get their February schedule. In February it opened on time but the trip info was inaccurate in many BESs. Again a mild mea culpa with a hint of "oh well."
A late system bid will likely be met with the same.