Excess Defense Articles · 1 of 3
Excess defense articles are not simply old equipment. The Foreign Assistance Act defines them as a quantity of defense articles owned by the United States government and not procured in anticipation of assistance or sales requirements. That quantity must be one "which is in excess of the Approved Force Acquisition Objective and Approved Force Retention Stock of all Department of Defense Components at the time such articles are dropped from inventory by the supplying agency" for delivery abroad (22 U.S.C. 2403(g)).
Three consequences follow from that wording. Something becomes excess by reference to American force requirements, not by reference to its age or serviceability. Equipment bought for a partner is never excess, because it was procured in anticipation of a sales requirement. And the test applies at the moment the article leaves inventory, so an item can stop being excess while a request is still being processed.
The same definition carves out one category by name. Construction equipment, "including tractors, scrapers, loaders, graders, bulldozers, dump trucks, generators, and compressors", is outside the definition entirely (22 U.S.C. 2403(g)). Coast Guard property is inside it, and for these purposes the Department of Defense is read to include the Coast Guard (22 U.S.C. 2321j(i)).
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency describes the offer in one sentence. The Department of Defense and the Coast Guard "offer this excess equipment at reduced or no cost to eligible purchasers" on an "as is, where is" basis (SAMM EDA.1.1).
The stated purpose is narrower than the phrase free equipment suggests. The program "is intended to assist allies and partners to augment current inventories of like-items with a support structure already in place" (SAMM EDA.1.1). It is designed for a partner that already operates the type and can maintain it, rather than for one acquiring a capability for the first time.
Excess articles reach a partner by one of two routes, and the route decides which body of law applies.
A grant transfer runs under section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act, which establishes the authority, limitations and terms for grant transfers of excess articles (22 U.S.C. 2321j). A sale runs under section 21 of the Arms Export Control Act, the same authority used for ordinary sales from stock (22 U.S.C. 2761).
That distinction is visible on the case document. For a grant transfer, the case description states that it is for the grant transfer of the quantity and item under section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act. For a sale, it states that the transfer is made under section 21 of the Arms Export Control Act (SAMM EDA.6.1). Grant lines carry a term of sale of "EDA Grant", a source code for excess, and a unit and total price of zero.
Sales of excess articles follow ordinary case writing rules on price. How a case is built in either instance is covered in how an FMS case is built.
Eligibility differs sharply between the two routes. Any partner eligible for Foreign Military Sales may purchase excess articles (SAMM EDA.2.7.1).
Grant is conditional and annual. To receive a grant transfer, a partner must be justified to Congress for the fiscal year in which the transfer is proposed, through the annual notification letters with the concurrence of the Department of State (SAMM EDA.2.7.2). The statute frames the same requirement. It authorizes transfers to countries for which receipt was justified in the annual congressional presentation documents, or separately justified to Congress, for the fiscal year in which the transfer is authorized (22 U.S.C. 2321j(a)).
The manual is direct that this is a gate rather than an entitlement. Eligibility does not guarantee that any offers will be made on a grant basis, and each transfer is considered case by case (SAMM EDA.2.7.2).
There is one more precondition for grant. Partners must have agreed to blanket end use, security and retransfer assurances, whose text is established by law, obtained through an exchange of diplomatic notes. Offers are not authorized until that exchange is complete and copies are held by the State legal adviser (SAMM EDA.2.7.3). The monitoring regime those assurances feed into is described in what end use monitoring is.
There is no public catalogue of available excess equipment. Implementing agencies use survey messages to tell embassy defense offices what is or will be available and to gather partner requirements. Survey messages normally include a description and condition, and may include rough cost or value, lead times for support items and supportability dates (SAMM EDA.2.3).
Timing is set by that message. The manual asks that survey messages allow a minimum 45 day response time to the extent feasible (SAMM EDA.2.3). Where significant military equipment is involved, the message is coordinated and approved before release and goes only to approved recipients (SAMM EDA.2.3.2).
A separate channel exists for material held by the Defense Logistics Agency. It can provide excess articles as a grant or at a reduced price, and lists what is available through an inventory interface open to registered users (SAMM EDA.2.5.5). A partner may also start the process without a survey message, by submitting a letter of request. Implementing agencies must respond to a request within 20 days, stating what is available and what is not (SAMM EDA.6.1).
Two features of that response are worth noting. It states which items are available now and which are not, and where known it indicates the fiscal year in which unavailable items may become available. Requests that cannot be met are held until the items become available or the request is withdrawn (SAMM EDA.6.1).
| EDA | Excess defense articles, defined at 22 U.S.C. 2403(g). |
|---|---|
| Section 516 | The Foreign Assistance Act authority for grant transfers, at 22 U.S.C. 2321j. |
| Section 21 | The Arms Export Control Act authority for sales from stock, at 22 U.S.C. 2761. |
| SME | Significant military equipment, which changes how a survey message is coordinated and released. |
| Survey message | The message by which availability is advised and partner requirements gathered. SAMM EDA.2.3. |
Every statement above links to the document behind it. The full source list for this piece is on the sources page.
This page describes public United States government programs for general information. It is not legal, regulatory or procurement advice, and it does not address the facts of any particular case.
Excess equipment is offered as is, where is, which makes collection and movement the recipient’s problem. Sentfore provides secure movement, protective security, facilities and life support around defense programs in difficult environments. Requirements can be sent through the contact page.