text: Fund the Force
  NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO)
  OPERATIONS
  2-208. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a defense treaty, which resulted in the alliance
  of 28 countries (member states). Under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, an attack upon the territorial
  integrity of a treaty member is considered an attack on all member states. While mutual defense remains
  the primary mission of the Alliance, NATO has recently expanded its sphere of activities to include peace
  support missions outside the territorial boundaries of the multinational nations. Such non-Article 5, or “out-
  of-area,” operations may be undertaken at the request of the UN with the unanimous consensus of all
  member states.
  NATO FUNDING ELIGIBILITY
  2-209. NATO conducts missions on the basis of force and capability contributions from its member states.
  Unlike the UN, it does not provide reimbursement for peacekeeping forces or in any other way underwrite
  the costs of national participation. As a result, NATOs operating budgets are small in relation to those of
  national forces deploying in support of an operation. NATO funding is generally restricted to establishment
  and support of the NATO headquarters in theater. In exceptional circumstances, the NATO nations may
  fund theater-wide projects benefiting both the NATO headquarters and all nations with forces in theater
  (for example, theater communications systems or certain engineering projects supporting main supply
  routes or ports). The NATO headquarters may establish a multinational logistics center to coordinate this
  effort among the forces in theater.
  NATO FUNDING SOURCES
  2-210. The support of national forces in the theater is a national responsibility and is funded through
  national systems and budgets. In the exceptional circumstance that a category of expenditure might be
  considered eligible for NATO funding, the requirement must be submitted through the NATO theater
  headquarters for inclusion in the budgetary plans described above. NATO funds its command and control
  structure through two primary sources—
  * The NATO Security Investment Program is generally used to support major investments in
  operational infrastructure, such as construction or communications systems. Projects originate
  with the NATO theater headquarters engineers and are subsequently screened by the NATO
  chain of command prior to being reviewed by the NATO Infrastructure Committee at NATO
  headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Funding is approved and provided on a project-by-project
  basis. Funds cannot be transferred between projects.
  * The NATO military budget is the normal source of funding for OMA costs supporting NATO
  headquarters in the theater of operations. NATO theater headquarters funding requirements are
  assembled by the theater financial controller and consolidated into an operational budget. This
  budget is screened by the NATO chain of command prior to submission to the Military Budget
  Committee, also located in Brussels. Funding is approved IAW the proposed expenditure plan;
  however, there is generally some flexibility between budgetary line items.
  CENTRALIZED CONTRACTS
  2-211. To reduce competition for resources in the theater, the NATO headquarters may solicit and
  consolidate theater-wide requirements in order to negotiate basic ordering agreements with local vendors.
  Such agreements typically establish the prices, ordering procedures, and payment terms, but do not obligate
  NATO or the nations to purchase specific quantities of goods or services. While multinational nations are
  generally authorized to utilize such contracts on the same basis as the NATO headquarters in-theater, the
  existence of such agreements do not preclude nations from negotiating their own bilateral contracts. NATO
  does not finance national requirements; such contracts call for nations to make direct payment to vendors
  for goods and services they order.