---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 2817"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "2817"
heading: "Authority for certain construction projects in friendly foreign countries"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/2817"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part IV — Service, Supply, and Property"
  - "Chapter 169 — Military Construction and Military Family Housing"
  - "Subchapter I — Military Construction"
---

# §2817. Authority for certain construction projects in friendly foreign countries

- (a) **Construction Authorized.—** Using funds available for operations and maintenance, the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense may carry out a construction project in a friendly foreign country, and perform planning and design to support such a project, that the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) determines meets each of the following conditions:
  - (1) The commander of the geographic combatant command in which the construction project will be carried out identified the construction project as necessary to support vital [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) requirements at an air port of debarkation, sea port of debarkation, or rail or other logistics support location.
  - (2) The construction project will not be carried out at a [military installation](/usc/10/2801.md?p=c-4).
  - (3) The funds made available under the authority of this section for the construction project—
    - (A) will be sufficient to—
      - (i) construct a complete and usable [facility](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) or make an improvement to a [facility](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2); or
      - (ii) complete the repair of an existing [facility](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) or improvement to a [facility](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2); and
    - (B) will not require additional funds from other [Department](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-6) of Defense accounts.
  - (4) The level of construction for the construction project may not exceed the minimum necessary to meet the [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) requirements identified under [paragraph (1)](#a-1).
  - (5) Deferral of the construction project pending inclusion of the construction project proposal in the national defense authorization Act for a subsequent fiscal year is inconsistent with the [military](/usc/10/801.md?p=8) requirements identified under [paragraph (1)](#a-1) and other [national security](/usc/10/801.md?p=16) or national interests of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1).
- (b) **Congressional Notification.—**
  - (1) **Notification required.—** Upon determining to carry out a construction project under this section that has an estimated cost in excess of the amounts authorized for unspecified minor [military construction](/usc/10/2801.md?p=a) projects under [section 2805(c) of this title](/usc/10/2805.md?p=c), the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense shall submit to the specified congressional committees a notification of such determination.
  - (2) **Elements.—** The notification required by [paragraph (1)](#b-1) shall include the following:
    - (A) A certification that the conditions specified in [subsection (a)](#a) are satisfied with regard to the construction project.
    - (B) A justification for such project.
    - (C) An estimate of the cost of such project.
  - (3) **Notice and wait.—** The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense may carry out a construction project only after the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date the notice required by [paragraph (1)](#b-1) is received by the specified congressional committees in an electronic medium pursuant to [section 480 of this title](/usc/10/480.md).
- (c) **Annual Limitations on Use of Authority.—**
  - (1) **Total cost limitation.—** The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense may not obligate more than $200,000,000 in any fiscal year under the authority provided by this section.
  - (2) **Additional obligation authority.—** Notwithstanding [paragraph (1)](#c-1), the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense may authorize the obligation under this section of not more than an additional $10,000,000 from funds available for operations and maintenance for a fiscal year if the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) determines that the additional funds are needed for costs associated with contract closeouts for all construction projects during such fiscal year.
  - (3) **Project limitation.—** The maximum amount that the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) may obligate for a single construction project is $15,000,000.
- (d) **Specified Congressional Committees Defined.—** In this section, the term “specified congressional committees” means—
  - (1) the Committee on Armed Services and the Subcommittee on Defense and the Subcommittee on [Military Construction](/usc/10/2801.md?p=a), Veterans Affairs, and Related [Agencies](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3) of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
  - (2) the Committee on Armed Services and the Subcommittee on Defense and the Subcommittee on [Military Construction](/usc/10/2801.md?p=a), Veterans Affairs, and Related [Agencies](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3) of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 118–31, div. B, title XXVIII, § 2805, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 744.)