How US military bases in Japan buy household appliances and furniture

What US bases in Japan buy, and where the records are

US military bases in Japan fill family housing, barracks and offices with goods bought on the Japanese market: washers and dryers that run on Japanese current, refrigerators, desks, chairs and shelving. A handful of base contracting offices buy them again and again, and most of the open buys go to companies registered in Japan.

Hashike collects the US government's records of contracts performed in Japan, as published on USAspending.gov, and the notices US contracting offices post on SAM.gov, the government's contracting website. This page uses both. It shows how much these offices bought since 2022-10-01, how they bought it, who won, and what two recent appliance solicitations asked a supplier to do.

Most appliance buys were open; most furniture went through agreements

Hashike counted 78 prime awards for household appliances performed in Japan that started on or after 2022-10-01, worth $6.7M in total. Of those, 43 awards worth $3.0M were open competitions, which any company registered with the US government could quote on. Another 33, worth $3.6M, were orders under an existing contract or blanket purchase agreement (BPA, a standing arrangement with a fixed set of suppliers), so only the holders could take them. Only 2 were set aside for US small businesses.

Furniture buying ran the other way. Of 171 prime awards under the furniture product codes performed in Japan over the same period, worth $28.6M, 105 awards worth $20.2M were orders under existing contracts or agreements. Open competitions numbered 46, worth $2.7M.

One of the agreements behind that furniture share is a Japan-wide multiple-award contract for office, conference and housing furniture. A multiple-award contract names several holders up front, and each later order is competed among them alone. The Air Force's 374th Contracting Squadron awarded this one in 2021 to 12 companies out of 19 proposals, including Okamura, Uchida Yoko and Haworth Japan. It has a $75,000,000 maximum over its life, single orders are capped at $3,000,000, and the companies priced their offers in yen.

The Navy runs its own arrangement. Fleet Logistics Center Yokosuka has bought furniture through blanket purchase agreements for about a decade. Those agreements expired after 2026-01-31, and on 2026-02-09 the center posted solicitation N6264926QJ001 to set up new ones with several vendors for every Navy installation in Japan. Only companies authorized to do business in Japan and registered on SAM.gov could respond, with 1 to 3 past-performance references from the last 3 years, by 2026-02-20.

Which base offices buy, and which companies win

Four offices made the 43 open appliance awards. The Navy's Fleet Logistics Center Yokosuka made 23 and its Sasebo office 14. The Air Force's 374th Contracting Squadron at Yokota, which buys for Camp Zama, and the 18th Contracting Squadron at Kadena made the rest. Companies registered in Japan won all 43, and 11 different companies shared them. The median open appliance buy drew 3 offers.

Open furniture awards came from more offices: 10 of them, led by the 35th Contracting Squadron at Misawa with 19. Companies registered in Japan won 35 of the 46 open furniture awards, 24 different companies won at least one, and the median buy again drew 3 offers.

The most recent open appliance awards list what was bought in the offices' own words, from single dryers to housing-wide orders. The award that followed the Atsugi solicitation described below started on 2026-04-10: FUTUREBUD INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. won it for $87K, with 4 offers received.

What the Camp Zama appliance solicitation required

On 2026-07-17 the 374th Contracting Squadron at Yokota posted solicitation FA520926Q0067 for appliances for off-post housing residents at Camp Zama, with quotes due 2026-08-27. The base order was 200 top-load washers, 200 dryers, 200 dryer stands, 40 washer-dryers and 200 refrigerators. Each line named a Hitachi or Panasonic model "or equal", meaning another maker's model passes if it meets the listed dimensions and capacities. Option line items added 100 more washers, dryers, stands and refrigerators and 20 more washer-dryers.

Every item had to run on 100V/50Hz, the standard for Camp Zama's region, and quotes had to show Japanese safety certification such as the PSE mark. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry designates the consumer products that need these checks, and neither makers nor retailers may sell them without the required mark.

The supplier carried delivery to a warehouse at Camp Zama within 150 days of award, with freight built into each unit price, and at least 1 year of on-site warranty service. A quoter located outside Japan had to name an authorized service partner in Japan with its quote, or the Air Force would not consider it.

The Air Force ranked quotes by total price across all ten line items, options included, rated each delivery plan pass or fail, checked every product against the specification and awarded on best value. Quotes went to the contracting office by email. Under the Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the United States, US forces' official purchases in Japan are exempt from consumption tax, and the solicitation states that the contract price excludes it.

On 2026-09-18 the Air Force posted award FA520926P0087 under that solicitation to Plus Logistics Corporation of Toshima-ku, Tokyo, for $508,070.58.

What the Atsugi appliance solicitation required

On 2026-03-30 the Navy's Fleet Logistics Center Yokosuka posted solicitation N6264926QJ007 for Japanese domestic-market appliances for family and single-sailor housing at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, with quotes due 2026-04-06. It listed 75 top-load washers of two types, 80 dryers, 75 dryer stands, 35 refrigerators and 15 microwave ovens. The Navy described each item by its required characteristics instead of a brand, and each quote had to include the maker's specification sheet for the exact model offered.

The Navy limited this buy to companies authorized to do business in Japan. It gave preference to US-made and qualifying-country products under DFARS 252.225-7035, and it would award all line items together to the lowest-priced quote that met the specification. Delivery was due within 75 calendar days, and quotes were not to include consumption tax. If quotes arrived in more than one currency, the Navy would convert them to dollars at its fiscal 2026 budget rate of 150.4415 yen per dollar for evaluation.

Vendors asked questions before the deadline, and the Navy amended the solicitation three times: twice to settle which way the dryer door had to open, and once to change the microwave to a steam convection model.

Furniture notices on the record now

On 2026-08-26 the Air Force at Misawa Air Base posted notice FA520526QB132. It planned to buy and install Uchida brand-name office furniture, including L-shaped desks, desks, drawer units and desktop panels, for a building on the base, and to ask suppliers for quotes directly instead of posting a public request. Interested firms were asked to email by 2026-09-01.

The Japan-wide furniture contract lets the Air Force reopen competition to add new holders, a step contracting offices call an on-ramp, and it announces any reopening on SAM.gov.

How a company in Japan quotes on these buys

A company that quotes as a prime contractor first registers on SAM.gov, which is free. A company outside the United States gets an NCAGE code first, an international supplier identifier that the NATO Support and Procurement Agency issues to Japanese companies free of charge.

Many solicitations for work in Japan include DFARS 252.225-7042, under which a bidder states that it is authorized to do business in the country where the contract is performed. The Atsugi buy accepted only such companies. The Camp Zama buy accepted quoters outside Japan if they named a local service partner.

For an open buy, the company answers the posted solicitation by email before the deadline, with the price schedule and the product documents the solicitation lists. Orders under the Air Force's Japan-wide furniture contract and the Navy's furniture agreements go only to their holders. A company joins those groups when the Air Force reopens competition or the Navy solicits new agreements.

About these records

Appliance counts include only awards whose description names an appliance, so tersely described awards can be missing, and commercial laundry and galley equipment is left out. USAspending publishes Department of Defense contract actions about ninety days late, and the Camp Zama award of 2026-09-18 does not yet appear in the counts above. Solicitation terms differ from buy to buy, so the conditions of one do not carry over to another.

Terms used in this article

Prime / Subcontractor

The prime holds the contract directly with the government. A subcontractor performs part of the work under the prime. Subcontracting is one route into federal work.

USAspending / FPDS (Federal Procurement Data System)

The public record of federal contract data. It shows past awardees, amounts, place of performance, and more. Hashike's comparable-award figures come from it.

SAM (System for Award Management)

The US government's central registration system for organizations that want to do business with federal agencies. An active SAM.gov registration is generally required to bid or receive an award. Registration is free.

RFI / RFP / RFQ (Request for Information / Proposals / Quotation)

RFI seeks information (market research); RFP seeks proposals (negotiated procurement); RFQ seeks quotes (common in simplified acquisitions).

Past Performance / CPARS (Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System)

A contractor's track record. The government records evaluations in CPARS and considers them in future source selections. Rules address how offerors with no record are treated.

SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement)

The US–Japan Status of Forces Agreement. It affects the status of US forces in Japan and related procurement, tax, and labor treatment. Some solicitations involve SOFA-based tax relief or procedures.

DFARS (Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement)

The Department of Defense's supplement to the FAR. It applies to defense acquisitions.

NCAGE Code (NATO Commercial and Government Entity Code)

The identifier for entities located outside the United States. A non-US company must obtain one before completing SAM registration. For Japan and other non-NATO countries it is issued by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), free of charge.