According to the article, this contract awarded to Boeing for the sum of $25.9MM is "to reduce risk and lower the cost of the program by looking at the tradeoffs between the requirements and design of the new plane, according to the Pentagon's daily digest of arms deals."
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-boe...-idUKKCN0V72P9
This, coupled with the announcement of an output reduction, may truly signal the beginning of the end of 747 production.