I guess management also felt the need to reassure us that they...

I guess management also felt the need to reassure us that they haven't just been twiddling their thumbs for the last few months and that they were doing lots of paperwork:

"Five copies of each of the main report and its 17 appendices were lodged with the Department in Bamako on 06 November 2018."

And from memory, they had to translate everything in French, and would most likely would have had to get someone else to look over it in French as well.