Who pays for an offset in Foreign Military Sales?

The legal instrument used by the USG to transfer itemized defense articles, defense services, and design and construction services to foreign partners.

When used under the authorities provided in the Arms Export Control Act for Foreign Military Sales, the LOA is a binding agreement signed by the USG and the foreign partner to transfer such articles and services.

When used under Building Partnership Capacity (BPC) authorities, the BPC LOA is not signed by the Benefitting Partner.

An agreement, arrangement, or understanding between a U.S. supplier of defense articles or services and a foreign country under which the supplier agrees to purchase or acquire, to promote the purchase or acquisition by other U.S. persons, of goods or services produced, manufactured, grown, or extracted, in whole or in part, in that foreign country in consideration for the purchase by the country of defense articles or services from the supplier [Sec. 39A(d)(1), Arms Export Control Act]. See also direct offset and indirect offset.

The military department or defense agency responsible for the execution of military assistance programs. With respect to FMS, the military department or defense agency assigned responsibility by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency to prepare an LOA and to implement an FMS case. The implementing agency is responsible for the overall management of the actions that will result in delivery of the materials or services set forth in the LOA that was accepted by a foreign country or international organization.

A general type of industrial or commercial compensation practice required of a contractor by a purchasing government as a condition for the purchase of defense articles/services. The form of compensation, which generally offsets a specific percentage of the cost of the purchase, is directly associated with the items purchased, such as the production of components in the purchasing country for installation in the purchased end-item.

A general type of industrial or commercial compensation practice required of a contractor by a purchasing government as a condition for the purchase of defense articles/services. The form of compensation, which generally offsets a specific percentage of the cost of the purchase, is unrelated to the items purchased, and may include contractor purchases of commodities and manufactured goods produced in the purchasing country.

A person with the authority to enter into, administer, and/or terminate contracts and make related determinations and findings. The term includes certain authorized representatives of the Contracting Officer acting within the limits of their authority as delegated by the Contracting Officer. A Contracting Officer whose primary responsibility is to enter into contracts is called a procuring contracting officer. One whose primary responsibility is to administer contracts is called an administrative contracting officer. One whose primary responsibility is to terminate contracts and/or settle terminated contracts is called a "termination contracting officer." A single contracting officer may be responsible for duties in any or all of these areas.

Any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, or other legal non-Federal entity that enters into a contract directly with the DoD to furnish services, supplies, or construction. Foreign governments, representatives of foreign governments, or foreign corporations wholly owned by foreign governments that have entered into contracts with the DoD are not defense contractors.

The FAR is the primary regulation for use by federal executive agencies for the acquisition of supplies and services with appropriated funds. The document, published in 1984, consolidated the major procurement regulations of various departments and agencies. The intent of the FAR is to standardize the content, decrease the volume of documents, and to achieve consistency throughout government. The principal agencies involved in putting together the FAR were DoD, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the three largest buyers. The FAR is broader than just contracting and applies to all goods and services. It directs the defense program manager in many ways, including contract award procedures, acquisition planning, warranties, and establishing guidelines for competition. Besides the FAR, each agency has its supplement to describe its own particular way of doing business. The DoD supplement is called Defense FAR Supplement.