According to the BBC, Malaysia had previously received proposals from two other firms, Dutch company Fugro and "an unidentified Malaysian company," before landing on the American group.
An earlier comment from Darren Chester, Australia's Transport Minister, suggested that Malaysia had indeed already finalized the agreement, but it was later clarified in a statement that talks had only just begun.
"We wish to inform that at this juncture, the Malaysian Government has yet to arrive into an agreement with Ocean Infinity for the search of MH370 as widely reported in the media recently," the Friday statement from the Civil Aviation Department said.
— DCA Malaysia (@DCA_Malaysia) October 20, 2017
The statement also indicates that once an agreement is reached, Malaysia will notify the Australian and Chinese governments before informing the families of the missing passengers.
Though Chester's comments were misleading, the official did indicate that Australia would provide technical assistance if the Malaysian government made the request, News.Com.Au reported.
It is speculated that Ocean Infinity will be searching the 25,000 square kilometer area that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau identified as having a "high probability" of housing the remnants of the Boeing 777-200ER plane. The ATSB made this declaration in its final report after suspending the search.
While Ocean Infinity has not announced their estimated cost of the search efforts, Malaysia, China and Australia spent a combined total of $150 million.
The Malaysia Airlines plane went missing on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers on board, during its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Since its disappearance, at least 18 pieces of the plane have washed up on islands and parts of Africa, USA Today reported.
