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Stage 07

Case Implementation in Foreign Military Sales

Timeline: Implementation milestone is a single posting; transitions to multi-year execution

Updated 11 September 2026

posts Financial Implementation once the arrives. The then processes and issues — the authority to spend — and the case manager, assigned since case development, guides execution.

What Happens

Obligation authority and the financial steps

Budgetary control of an agreement begins after acceptance of the sales offer by the international partner. After the international partner has forwarded a signed copy of the accepted (with any required ), will create and submit an automated OA request through the . When SCA receives the OA Request, the case level accounting records are reviewed to determine if: the case is valid; the international partner has deposited necessary cash, in advance, to implement the case; and the requested OA does not exceed the dollar values established in the case. If the three requirements are met, SCA must create BA and approve the OA Request. The must account for, control, and report all obligations and expenditures (disbursements) incurred against the authority received.

is a financial authority, which allows legally binding financial obligations to be incurred in an amount not to exceed the value of the material and service requirements on a case. Once the international partner has accepted an and provided funds to SCA, and the has received OA, the case can then be implemented, and obligations can be recorded. The term “obligation” relates to orders placed, contracts awarded, requisitions submitted, services performed, and similar transactions during a given period that will require payments.

The OA is evidence of proper case acceptance, including receipt of , and signals that the case may be implemented. OA is not money, but it provides financial authority allowing the case manager to implement the case. Upon receipt of OA, the may begin to incur obligations against the case (i.e., negotiate a contract, submit requisitions, schedule training, etc.).

is unique to accounting and was established in order to ensure compliance with the requirement that DOD funds not be used to provide interim financing of requirements. EA is an country-level authority, which allows expenditures to be incurred against obligations previously recorded against a country’s account. As a result, before expenditures can be made, the dollars must first be on deposit in the . In the most basic sense, the term “expenditure” may be thought of as a cash disbursement, such as a payment to a contractor or a reimbursement to an .

Implementing instructions

Although an provides basic information and authority for an case, it may have insufficient information for case implementation. A case manager may issue internal supplemental guidance (e.g., a case directive) in order to provide more detailed case logistical and financial implementation instructions to line managers and supporting organizations. The term “ case directive” has several definitions, depending on the variations of case directive documents. In the broadest context, a case directive is a document, or an assortment of documents, used to implement an . The case directive is also known as the project directive for the Navy and the international program directive for the Air Force. Case directives should be revised as appropriate whenever cases are modified or amended.

Emergency implementation

Key Players at This Stage

DSCA

  • DSCA Country Finance DirectorDefense Security Cooperation Agency — Office of Business Operations, Financial Policy & Regional Execution Directorate (OBO/FPRE)

Case manager

Program office

Industry

Common Pitfalls

  • OA issuance lags partner deposit by weeks; contract preparation stalls
  • Program office not staffed to receive the case; execution slips before it starts
  • Line-by-line OA phasing confuses the partner

References

Drawn exclusively from publicly available authorities.

SAMM

Public authorities

← AcceptanceExec →