There maybe good reasons for the delay in signing a contract,...

There maybe good reasons for the delay in signing a contract, thats understandable in big business.

However when market expectations are set to a certain timeline by the company and the time is well past the expected time period then I feel the CEO and The Board have a duty to update the market/shareholders accordingly.

I cannot understand why that is so difficult for management if there is nothing amiss and the contract is moving forward, albeit very slowly. The longer they go without an update, the faster the fall of the share price will be.