The issue, as I see it, is that anyone remotely familiar with the 3.5 SRD already knows that there is no IP that needs removing (except from the PI declaration that will be removed anyway with the move to CC). So asking people to point out the IP is moot. Either they are familiar with the 3.5 SRD and know it is a non-issue, or they aren't familiar with it and will just point vaguely in that direction and say "They need to be sure."
So anyone who is actually familiar with the 3.5 SRD could have it ready for CC in 5 minutes.
The problem is that I doubt anyone at WotC is familiar with the 3.5 SRD anymore - especially anyone with sign-off level management authority.
This is pure speculation, but given my experience with corporate thinking, as well as outward signs of how this is being handled, my personal guess is someone high up was furious about the "Strahd" and other stuff that snuck through, tore into a middle manager about it, and that middle manager set up an overly complicated review process to cover their butts and appease upper management. That sounds extremely plausible to me.
It doesn't matter what makes sense or even if any low level employee is familiar with the 3.5 SRD and can assure management that there is nothing that is going to sneak through. The middle management cares more about not getting yelled at by their superiors than doing that makes sense. It is pure speculation on my part but extremely common for a corporate environment.
