ACSA (acquisition and cross-servicing agreement)

An acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, known as an ACSA, is a bilateral or multilateral defence agreement. It lets participating military forces, or eligible international organizations, provide or exchange logistics support, supplies and services with one another. Reimbursement is commonly made by cash payment, replacement in kind or an exchange of supplies or services of equal value.

The term is used in NATO and allied defence circles. NATO's glossary of acronyms expands ACSA as "acquisition and cross-servicing agreement." The agreement itself sets the general legal and administrative framework. Individual transactions are normally carried out through implementing arrangements, orders or similar transaction documents.

How an ACSA transaction works

The U.S. Department of Defense describes an ACSA as a legal instrument that authorizes the reciprocal provision of logistics support, supplies and services. Its inspector general reports describe ACSAs as bilateral agreements with eligible foreign entities for exchanging that support.

Payment can take three forms, as set out in a 2025 Department of Defense inspector general report:

• cash payment
• replacement in kind
• an exchange of supplies or services of equal value

The agreement is the framework, and the order is the working document. According to a U.S. Army regulation on ACSAs, an ACSA order or equivalent transaction document can request support, create an obligation to provide it, record performance and initiate billing.

The Canada-Japan ACSA of 2018

Canada and Japan signed a bilateral ACSA in April 2018. Global Affairs Canada announced the signing as a way to strengthen military cooperation. The agreement applies to cooperation between the Canadian Armed Forces and Japan's Self-Defense Forces during operations and exercises in Canada, Japan and elsewhere.

It enables the two forces to exchange a broad range of support:

• food, water and fuel
• repair and maintenance, spare parts and components
• transportation and clothing
• communications and medical services
• facilities, training and storage
• airport and seaport services

This list shows that an ACSA covers the everyday logistics that keep deployed forces operating, not only the supply of military equipment.

The United Kingdom's agreement with Japan

The United Kingdom offers a useful comparison. The UK government describes its defence logistics treaty with Japan as an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement. It says the treaty covers exchanges of supplies and services without requiring separate case-by-case agreements. That is the practical purpose of an ACSA: the framework is agreed once, so forces can request support quickly when they work together.

What an ACSA means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

In the Canadian material, an ACSA is a defence-cooperation and military logistics arrangement between armed forces. It is not a standard Public Services and Procurement Canada commercial clause, and Global Affairs Canada does not describe it as a route for suppliers to bid directly. No general supplier procedure or universal ACSA tender clause is established.

A supplier that meets ACSA-related wording in a solicitation should read the specific solicitation, implementing arrangement, order or contract issued by the responsible defence organization. Those documents set the requirements, not the framework agreement alone. Suppliers of the support categories listed above, such as fuel, maintenance, spare parts, transportation and storage, work in areas where ACSA exchanges between allied forces take place. Bid teams should still rely on the terms of the individual opportunity.