In this context, "performance" means "does it do what we want it to do" not "does it do it quickly". Quality of output is what they're measuring, speed is not a consideration.
The point is that whether it does what you tell it in a single iteration is less important then whether it avoids stupid mistakes. Any serious use will put it in a harness.
My point is that you misread the comment you replied to. (By the way, on page 2 of the paper: "we evaluate each LLM only within its corresponding harness.")
