I am more concerned with an unknown web dev firm, who doesn't even have their own website, getting the contract. It's obvious there's some favoritism going on once again. You can't even find a single project they have completed, and they get the forum's coins for the project? You say you want to move towards something other than VB,SMF,etc then hire a complete novice to code it. It's really quite amazing.
Be honest, who are these people to you? How do you know them?
They are friends of friends of online friends that theymos has. Why doesn't that work for you?