It didn't however say the plan was a failure or that the plan itself was flawed
They most certainly said the plan was flawed since they said that all three of the criteria the PGC uses to manage the herd were flawed. Flawed or inadequate dat results in a flawed plan no matter how you spin it.
Using 100 plots /year to determine forest health and antlerless allocations is ridiculous and proves that the PGC was just giving hunters a snow job.