This, and other threads, are "no win" in my book.

My feeling, the less you deal with the government, the better.
I would trust on the "local guy" (a&p in this case) plus whatever you can show upfront. It is HIS neck that gets chopped if the upper group disagree after he signs off.
Maybe direct him/her to a relevant thread on here with linked FAA documents (or other documents for other locations).
I agree, this could have been easy, typical government (in the US) makes it harder.

Apologies to any local guys here. No, I am not looking to hang any of you, so, chill.......