Normal
Considering the current GDL + Accelerated LPC set-up would only take ~15 months total, I'm guessing the latter firm is convinced that you'll cover enough of what would be on the GDL as part of the SQE prep course and 'GDL month' (so ~13 months total?) that you wouldn't need to do the GDL course proper. In my opinion, learning and synthesizing the legal knowledge you need in a lesser (albeit only slightly) amount of time might be difficult and stressful, but I don't know enough about the SQE 1 to say with any certainty.
