How are Foreign Military Sales requisitions prioritized?

The Uniform Materiel Movement and Issue Priority System (UMMIPS) helps identify the relative importance of competing demands for logistic systems resources. It guides the ranking of materiel requirements and time standards for requisition processing and materiel movement through the use of a two-digit priority designator. The priority designator is based on two factors that relate to the mission of the requisitioning activity and the urgency of need.

Force/Activity designators (FADs) are represented by Roman numerals I through V. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff assigns FADs to foreign country forces under CJCSI 4110.01F, Joint Materiel Priorities and Allocation; a country’s FAD is released only to that country and to U.S. organizations with a need to know. The FAD is applicable to all requisitions for materiel destined for the country.

The international partner’s urgency of need for the materiel being requisitioned is indicated by an urgency of need designator (UND), either A, B, or C. The requisition originator determines the UND to be assigned using the criteria set forth in the UMMIPS directives. In broad terms, UND “A” equates to an extremely urgent requirement, UND “B” to a less urgent requirement, and UND “C” to a routine requirement, e.g., stock replenishment.

The UMMIPS matrix is used to determine the priority number for a given requisition.