International Forum addresses FMS policy, issues, trends

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  A March 31 International Forum here allowed officials from the Electronic Systems Center to exchange questions and concerns with a policy expert from the Office of the Undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs.

"Policy is not law," said Glenn Anderson of SAF/IA at the start of a briefing about policy issues and changes. He explained that the Air Force intent is to comply with laws and Defense Department guidance while still making processes as user-friendly as possible. 

"We're looking to make things better for you," he said to the ESC foreign military sales officials who'd gathered in the O'Neill Auditorium for the two-hour session. 

Mr. Anderson discussed the number of organizations involved in foreign military sales and the many different ways in which the Air Force might receive a 'partner nation' request. He noted that SAF/IA is looking to standardize the process, so that Letters of Request, or LORs, come in to one point and in one standard format. 

He also discussed the challenges of meeting the current mandate to complete a formal Letter of Agreement, or LOA, with the partner nation within 60 days of the LOR arrival. The LOA states what the U.S. government will deliver, as well as the price and schedule. 

Mr. Anderson acknowledged that the original requests are often incomplete and require additional consideration. Still, re-starting the clock every time a change is made would only make things worse, he contended. 

"We've decided to retain the 60-day standard for now, to avoid making things even worse for you," he said. 

Much of the afternoon's discussion focused on the Standard Level of Service provision, which Mr. Anderson said has been designed to provide more transparency for partner nations. 

The Standard Level of Service spells out what the 3.8 percent FMS case surcharge - recently raised from 2.5 percent to keep the International Affairs trust fund solvent - is intended to provide. 

"Countries always used to ask what that money was used for, and this is intended to show them," he said. 

He cautioned that, while it's important to provide what that standard service level calls for, requests that exceed its parameters must be billed directly to the FMS case. 

"For instance, the Standard Level of Service calls for one program management review, to be held in the Continental United States, per year," he said. "If the partner nation says, I'm a big FMS customer and I want four PMRs a year and I want them held in my country, that's fine, but all the extra cost has to be charged to the case." 

Mr. Anderson also listed several SAF/IA recommendations, one of which is that each organization that handles FMS requests establish a 'New Business' office for central processing of requests. 

The ESC International Operations Office serves as that new business office at ESC, according to office deputy director Manny Lindo. "We've established the model," he said. 

Col. Doug Anderson, ESC's director of Plans and Programs, opened the forum and encouraged attendees to participate fully. 

"This is the opportunity for the Hanscom Foreign Military Sales and International Affairs community to gain new information and share experiences," he said. 

The forum also featured a presentation from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations on current threats to the Foreign Military Sales community, and Rhonda Young from the International Operations Office provided an update on financial management and reporting requirements.