The systems a case runs on

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1. One case, several systems

A foreign military sale does not live in a single database. It is written in one system, executed in another belonging to the military department that runs it, accounted for in a third, and reported to Congress out of a fourth. Knowing which is which explains a great deal about where information comes from and why it arrives when it does.

The manual states the arrangement plainly. "DSCA funds, operates, and maintains information systems to support the execution of Security Cooperation (SC) organizational capabilities and activities" (SAMM C13.3.1). The same agency also funds and maintains the systems the military departments and implementing agencies use to process cases.

Ownership and access are separate matters. "Each IT system is managed either by DSCA or the appropriate IA and require appropriate permissions for access" (SAMM C13.3.1). None of these systems is open, and a commercial supplier will normally see their output through a government counterpart rather than directly.

2. Where a case is written

Case development has its own group of systems, described as those that give the community the means to develop and establish cases (SAMM C13.3.3). The one that matters is the Defense Security Assistance Management System.

It is a defense wide system used to develop and implement every unclassified case. That covers ordinary sales, building partner capacity cases, training cases under the grant program, and other transfers of articles, services or training by sale, grant or lease. The authority cited is the Arms Export Control Act, the Foreign Assistance Act and other law (SAMM C13.3.3.1). The steps it records are described in how an FMS case is built.

Training is handled in a module of its own. "The DSAMS Training Module (DSAMS-TM) is the system of record to program, manage, execute, and track the SC International Military Student (IMS) training program and associated financial management" (SAMM C13.3.3.1.1). Each military department training activity uses it at a different depth, and it covers both sold training and the grant program set out in what IMET funds.

3. Execution moves to the military department

Once a case is implemented the work moves. Execution systems are defined as those that "provide the means for the SC community to execute security cooperation cases in accordance with applicable policies required for delivery of defense articles, services, and trainings" (SAMM C13.3.4). Each department brought its own.

The Army uses the Centralized Integrated System for International Logistics for case management. "The system maintains data from country request to FMS case closure" (SAMM C13.3.4.1). It produces requisitions, case status, delivery status, repair status and discrepancy status, the last of which is explained in supply discrepancy reports.

The Navy uses the Management Information System for International Logistics to manage execution and accounting. "MISIL is the official accounting system of record for all Navy FMS and produces logistics requisitions (e.g., MILSTRIP), case status, status of delivery, repair status, supply discrepancy status, and other management reports" (SAMM C13.3.4.4).

The Air Force runs two. "The U.S. Air Force utilizes the Case Management Control System (CMCS) to provide financial and logistical tracking of FMS cases" (SAMM C13.3.4.2), handling obligational authority, commitments, disbursements, customer billing and line and case closure. Alongside it sits the Security Assistance Management Information System, which processes logistical and financial data and supports materiel command negotiation, acquisition and delivery functions (SAMM C13.3.4.5).

4. The system that produces the bill

One system sits across all of them. "The Defense Integrated Financial System (DIFS) is the interfacing accounting system which links implementing activity records with the bill (DoD Form 645) and supporting financial documents issued to FMS purchasers for the procured defense articles and/or services" (SAMM C13.3.4.3). That form is the document described in payment schedules and billing.

The manual puts a duty on a named person. Case managers at the implementing agency must track the financial status of their cases throughout execution and across the whole life of the case. Anomalies in the output must be reviewed and reconciled against what the case actually provides (SAMM C13.3.4.3). The wider duties attaching to that post are described in the case manager and the budget cycle.

Visibility runs from the offer stage through closure and beyond, against the accounting records held by the finance service in Indianapolis (SAMM C13.3.4.3). A case that has closed on paper still has a financial tail, which is why the reconciliation described in how a case is reconciled and closed takes as long as it does.

5. What is counted for Congress

Reporting draws on the same records. The agency uses the Case Performance Reporting Solution to give Congress, the state department, the commerce department and itself a defense wide view of sales. The same system gathers monthly and quarterly delivery data for unclassified and classified congressional reports (SAMM C13.3.4.6).

Its two inputs arrive on different clocks. "The system is sourced with monthly transactions received from IAs through DSAMS" (SAMM C13.3.4.6), while "Quarterly materiel delivery transactions are received from DIFS" (SAMM C13.3.4.6). Case data is therefore fresher than delivery data in anything Congress reads.

6. What a supplier can take from this

The practical value is in knowing which office holds the answer. A question about what a case says belongs with the case development record. A question about where an item is belongs with the executing department’s system, and that system differs depending on which service is running the case. A question about money belongs with the accounting system and the case manager who reads it.

The reporting clocks matter as well. A delivery recorded this month may not appear in a quarterly figure until the following quarter, so a gap between what a program office knows and what a published total shows is often timing rather than error.

Key terms

DSAMS	The defense wide system in which all unclassified cases are developed and implemented. SAMM C13.3.3.1.
DSAMS Training Module	The system of record for programming, managing and tracking international student training.
CISIL, MISIL, CMCS and SAMIS	The Army, Navy and Air Force systems that execute cases once they are implemented.
DIFS	The accounting system linking implementing activity records to the bill sent to the purchaser.
CPRS	The reporting system that assembles case and delivery data for congressional reports.

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.

How Sentfore supports this

A case that reads cleanly in a system still has to arrive somewhere. Sentfore provides secure transport, protective security, facilities and life support for defense programs in complex environments. Requirements can be sent through the contact page.