International Agreements: DOD Has Opportunities to Improve Internal Communication and Oversight

Executive Summary

Affected segments pending source review.

GAO’s review finds that from FY 2021 through FY 2025 the Department of Defense established 303 acquisition-related international arrangements with an associated dollar value of $64 billion, and both the number and dollar value declined over that period. GAO attributes part of the decline to personnel shortages and lengthy review and approval timelines, and it finds uneven internal coordination and untimely communication between USD-level offices and the military departments. GAO also concluded DOD has not fully identified or systematically addressed these challenges.

Contractors should pay attention because these dynamics affect near-term demand for services tied to international agreements (e.g., partnership negotiations, renegotiations, implementation support, and industrial-base work) and because DOD could move toward more systematic oversight and risk management approaches—changes that would create opportunities for firms that can help streamline reviews, provide analytics, or support renegotiation and cost-sharing implementation. The event severity is labeled CRITICAL, reflecting significant program- and market-level implications described in the Summary.

Impact Matrix

Acquisition-related international arrangements

• Risk Level: Critical
• Opportunity: Demand for assistance in drafting, negotiating, implementing, and reconciling international acquisition arrangements; advisory and transition support if DOD adopts more systematic risk management. Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: Fiscal years 2021–2025 (observed trend period); ongoing implications TBD pending source review.
• Action Required: Monitor DOD communications and GAO follow-up; position teams to support renegotiations and cost-sharing adjustments; document capabilities for partnership facilitation and cross-border compliance; maintain staffing for potential upticks in rework or restructuring of agreements.
• Competitive Edge: Offer demonstrable experience in managing multinational acquisition arrangements, with capacity for rapid support on renegotiation and cost-sharing governance; present data-driven tools for tracking agreement status and bottlenecks.

Military departments

• Risk Level: High
• Opportunity: Support for implementing approved agreements, addressing renegotiation needs, and helping recover or retain foreign partner participation after communication-driven disruptions. Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: Fiscal years 2021–2025 (context for decline); ongoing operational impacts TBD pending source review.
• Action Required: Engage military department stakeholders to offer services that reduce rework (e.g., liaison teams, negotiation support, supply-chain continuity planning); prepare case studies showing reduced negotiation timelines and improved partner retention.
• Competitive Edge: Build relationships with military department program offices and demonstrate rapid-response capabilities for resolving partner opt-outs and renegotiation fallout.

USD-level offices (Acquisition & Sustainment; Office of General Counsel; Policy)

• Risk Level: Medium
• Opportunity: Provide systems, analytics, or program-management support to improve internal coordination, monitoring, and enterprise risk management adoption. Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: Timeline TBD pending source review.
• Action Required: Market services that address enterprise risk management, data analytics for oversight, and process optimization to shorten review/approval timelines; be prepared to respond to formal DOD initiatives if GAO recommendations are adopted.
• Competitive Edge: Propose targeted solutions that enable USD-level offices to leverage available data for oversight and to pinpoint challenges—e.g., dashboards, data-integration services, and program-assessment frameworks.

Cross-Segment Implications

• Untimely communication from USD-level offices to military departments increases renegotiation workload for both acquisition-related arrangements and military departments, creating demand for contractors who can assist with rework and partner retention.
• A continued decline in the number and dollar value of arrangements (303 arrangements, $64 billion over FY 2021–2025) signals shifting opportunity volumes across segments; vendors that can reduce review timelines or strengthen partner incentives may capture a disproportionate share of remaining work.
• If DOD implements GAO-recommended systematic risk management and better data use, firms offering analytics, enterprise risk frameworks, and process-improvement support may see cross-segment demand from both USD-level offices and military departments.