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- Office of Defense Trade Controls (ODTC)
- See Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.
- Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC)
- Located in the Treasury Department and is responsible for administering U.S. trade embargos and other economic sanctions. It thus to some degree parallels the enforcement of export controls that is conducted by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the Commerce Department. Information on its programs and enforcement issues is available at www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/faq.
- Offsets
- Most foreign governments, when purchasing defense equipment from offshore, demand that the seller provide the buyer with economic benefits that help "offset" a portion of the item's cost, and make the purchase more politically acceptable. Offsets can include such benefits as purchases of products from the buying country, transfers to technology to that country, and training and investment in the country. Offsets generally fall into two categories: direct and indirect. A direct offset is an obligation that relates specifically to the project being purchased, such as subcontracting work on that project. An indirect offset involves transactions that are not directly related to the product, but are deemed economically beneficial to the country. The Commerce Department issues an annual report on offsets. It is available at www.bis.doc.gov/defenseindustrialbaseprograms.
- Outsourcing
- Occurs when a company subcontracts work it used to perform internally to another company that might specialize in a given area. Outsourcing can involve placing work at another U.S. company, or to foreign companies, which is sometimes referred to as off-shoring.
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- Reciprocal Procurement Memorandum of Understanding
- The U.S. has signed reciprocal procurement MOUS with 21 countries, including most NATO members. These agreements essentially commit the signatories to give each other "national treatment" in their respective defense procurement activities. Generally the U.S. meets every year or so with each of the opposite signatories to discuss procurement issues and how well the MOUS are implemented in practice. The U.S. commitments under the MOUS provide the rationale for the U.S. to waive most "Buy American" procurement requirements for MOU countries. The actual MOUS are available at www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/paic/mou.htm.
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