Yeah, especially if the combined effort can reduce cost. But that could leave some companies high and dry, with Boeing sole-sourcing parts from just a few companies. Plus the Pentagon's mistake of committing 2 primary projects to just one company.
Anyway, it's a competition between the makers of the Super Hornet and Tomcat, so I think it's the Tomcat's turn now. You can bet NG has been working on this for a long time too.
Plus it's unclear if NG withdrew from NGAD 'cause they were too advanced or not advanced enough. Or if a single engine design was chosen and they did not have one. That's gonna factor in here as well.
