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DA Form 12 is a DA series document issued for use across the Department of the Army. Official title: REQUEST FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF A PUBLICATIONS ACCOUNT. Purpose: request for establishment of a publications account. The current edition carries the date 06/01/2021 and is listed with a publication status of ACTIVE. The form runs to 1 page(s) and contains approximately 147 entry fields.
The office of primary responsibility is CIO. Use is prescribed by PAM 25-38, which defines when the form is raised and where it goes afterward. The form is normally completed by the subject of the entries or by administrative personnel maintaining the record, then reviewed and signed as the governing authority directs. A more recent edition has been published. This edition is superseded; it remains available for reference and for files already executed against it.
Distributed formats: PDF. The layout is common to all of them; what varies is the method of entry. The pdf is the reference version. In the fillable pdf the entry areas are live objects that accept typing; in the printable version the same areas are inert and are filled by hand after printing.
A pdf opens in any current browser or in a dedicated reader. Fillable behaviour is more reliable in a full reader than in a browser viewer, where some field types render but do not save.
All formats are free to download and no registration is involved. The files are the published documents, distributed unmodified.
What the form asks for
- ACCTNO
- ACTIVE_mutexcl
- CAGE
- CONTRACTNO
- ContentArea1
- DATE
- DOD
- EFFECTIVE
- FROM
- INITIAL_mutexcl
- JUSTIFY
- L10
- L11
- L12
- L13
- L14
- L15
- L16
- L17
- L18
- L19
- L20
- L21
- L22
The blocks are worked through in the order they appear on the sheet. At the head sit the identifying entries: name, identification number, unit, date. Because the filed record is indexed on these, they precede everything substantive.
Fillable fields accept typing directly. Tab advances from one field to the next in the order the form was built, which is normally the reading order of the page. Check boxes and option buttons are clicked; where a set of options is exclusive, selecting one clears the rest. Fields sized for a single line will not wrap, and text exceeding the width is truncated in print even where it remains visible on screen. Long entries belong in the remarks area or on a continuation, not compressed into a narrow field.
The signature block is completed last and by hand or by an accepted electronic means. An unsigned form is a draft. Where a second signature is called for — reviewing official, approving authority, witness — each is applied in the order the blocks appear and dated as of application, not as of preparation. Blank mandatory fields are the most frequent defect; a nil entry is marked as such rather than left empty. Other recurring faults: transposed digits in identification numbers, dates in the wrong order of day and month, and stale copies retaining prior data because a working file was reused instead of a fresh blank form.
A Privacy Act statement appears on the form where personal information is collected. It sets out the authority for collection, the purpose, the routine uses, and whether disclosure is mandatory or voluntary. The statement is read before entry, not after. Completed copies carry personal data and are handled and stored under the safeguards applicable to that data.
Once completed, the form goes where the governing authority directs: to the designated office, along the unit administrative channel, or into the personal file. The preparer retains a copy. The length of retention and the manner of filing are set by the records schedule for the series, not by local arrangement.
Related forms are found by series and number. Documents in the DA series sharing a proponent or a prescribing directive commonly travel together, and a form referenced within the body of another is usually filed with it. Continuation sheets, cover sheets, and transmittal documents belong to this group and are collected before submission rather than after.
Editions are replaced when the proponent revises the content. The edition date printed on the form is the means of telling one version from another, and the date on a downloaded copy is checked against the edition in force before use. Records already executed on a prior edition are not reworked on that account.
The documents on this page are reproductions of published Department of the Army forms, offered for download. This is an independent site with no connection to the Department of the Army and no authority to issue forms. Nothing stated is legal advice, and no assurance is given regarding acceptance by any office. Doubts about a specific entry, requirement, or eligibility are resolved by the proponent or by the servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 12?
- REQUEST FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF A PUBLICATIONS ACCOUNT
- Which edition is current?
- 06/01/2021
- Who is responsible for this form?
- CIO
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, PDF