DEFENSE SECURITY COOPERATION AGENCY
2800 DEFENSE PENTAGON
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301-2800

1/16/2026 
USP001915-25

MEMORANDUM FOR :

DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY FOR DEFENSE EXPORTS AND COOPERATION
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
DIRECTOR, DEFENSE CONTRACT MANAGEMENT AGENCY 
DIRECTOR, DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY
DIRECTOR, DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
DIRECTOR, DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY
DIRECTOR, MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY
DIRECTOR, NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
DIRECTOR, SECURITY COOPERATION ACCOUNTING DIRECTORATE, DEFENSE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICE, INDIANAPOLIS OPERATIONS 
DIRECTOR OF CYBERSECURITY DIRECTORATE AND DEPUTY NATIONAL MANAGER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEMS, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY

SUBJECT :

Defense Security Cooperation Agency Policy Memorandum 25-103, Performance Standards for Case Development from Letter of Request Actionable to Letter of Offer and Acceptance Offer

REFERENCE :

1. Executive Order 14268 "Reforming Foreign Defense Sales to Improve Speed and Accountability," April 9, 2025
2. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) Plan to Improve the Transparency of U.S. Defense Sales to Foreign Partners by Developing Metrics for Accountability, July 15, 2025
3. DSCA Policy 21-66, "Revision to Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) Document Processing Performance Metric," September 16, 2021
4. Security Assistance Management Manual Chapter 5, Section C5.4.2.1. Case Development Extenuating Factor

This memorandum updates performance standards in line with references (a) and (b) for the length of time to prepare Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Letters of Offer and Acceptance (LOAs), Amendments, and Modifications from LOR actionable (receipt of an actionable LOR) to an offered LOA.

This memorandum does not change the definitions of FMS phases.

• For Categories A and B, the "clock start" is changed from "Letter of Request (LOR) Receipt" to "LOR actionable."
• Case development standards are changed from 85% of case documents completed within 45 days for Category A, 100 days for Category B, and 150 days for Category C to 85% of case documents completed within 30 days for Category A, 90 days for Category B, and 130 days for Category C.

Per reference (d), IAs must enter CDEFs for Category C cases into the Defense Security Assistance Management System (DSAMS).

Effective immediately, IAs must enter reasons in DSAMS' Military Approval (MILAP) milestone comment field for Category A, B, and C cases exceeding the case development performance standards. The DSCA Office of Administration's Performance, Improvement, and Effectiveness Directorate (ADM/PIE) shall lead an effort to establish formal reason codes in DSAMS, but as an interim approach, free-text remarks in the MILAP milestone comment field should make use of the following reasons:

• Vendor pricing delays
• Partner funding issues
• Instability in partner requirements
• Policy requirements
• Congressional notification
• Releasability
• Other: (1-2 sentence explanation)

Effective immediately, the IAs may request a hold in case development (known as a CPOHOLD milestone) when no further Department of Defense (DoD) case development processing can take place. A CPOHOLD does not stop case development, since non-DoD processing will continue. DSCA will only exclude the CPOHOLD time from the performance metrics, but the case development standard itself is not changed by the CPOHOLD. DSCA (ADM/PIE) shall provide the DSCA Director with quarterly reports on CPOHOLD milestones and the reasons provided for exceeding case development standards. The FMS Continuous Process Improvement Board (CPIB) shall meet quarterly to review and analyze case development metrics and develop process improvement recommendations, as required.

Within 90 days of the date of publication of this policy memorandum, if an IA assesses that it is unable to meet case development standards due to a lack of resources or due to an internal DoW matter that is within the Department's discretion to address, the IA shall provide a memorandum to the DSCA Director (submit to dsca.ncr.pie.list.rads-civ-mil@mail.mil) that identifies any changes or requirements, such as additional resources or policy modifications, necessary to meet the updated case development standards.

The DSCA Office of Business Operations, Information Management and Technology Directorate (OBO/IM&T) shall implement DSAMS technical changes to support updated standards, assist with the establishment of reason codes in DSAMS, and explore ways to automate the CPOHOLD process. This will allow DSCA and IAs to track and assess delays.

Pursuant to this memorandum, DSCA (ADM/PIE), in coordination with IAs and the CPIB, shall expedite updates to the SAMM. All resulting modifications will be published in the SAMM as quicky as possible, to ensure policy changes are clearly reflected and operationalized.

DSCA (ADM/PIE) will continuously review metrics data in coordination with the IAs and the CPIB.

If you have questions concerning this memorandum, please contact DSCA (ADM/PIE) at dsca.ncr.pie.list.rads-civ-mil@mail.mil. Please reference the DSCA policy number 25-103 and memorandum subject. For general questions about the SAMM, please contact the DSCA Office of Strategy, Plans, and Policy, Execution Policy and Analysis Directorate at dsca.ncr.spp.mbx.epa@mail.mil.

Michael F. Miller 
Director