Start here if you have been told to submit DD Form 2036. First, know what you are filling: Methods Improvement Project Summary. The document is titled DD Form 2036, Methods Improvement Project Summary, December 1976.
Next, check the edition. You want not stated, currently carried as not stated by the publisher. Then confirm the form applies to you — this is a Department of Defense form, so you use it whether you serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force or Coast Guard under Defense jurisdiction.
Once you know the form fits, find out when you file it. not stated sets the requirement, and not stated maintains the form itself. Your own command or agency adds local timing on top of that, so ask your administrative office if the deadline matters to you.
Finally, decide how you will complete it. You can type into a fillable file or print a blank and write by hand, and the rest of this page walks you through both paths in order.
Begin at the top and move down. Enter your identifying data first, then the body of the form, then the signature block. The sequence is printed in that order because entries below frequently follow from entries above.
Before your first entry, look at the corner of the page and compare the printed date with not stated. If they do not match, stop and download again. Old copies circulate in shared drives for years, and a DD form is revised centrally for every service at once, so a superseded blank may not carry the fields your reviewer expects.
Work through the fields one at a time and leave nothing blank. When a box does not apply to you, write N/A rather than skipping it, so the reviewer can see you read the question. Follow the date format printed beside each date field instead of the one you normally use.
Stop at the Privacy Act Statement and read it through. You will find the authority for the collection, the principal purpose, the routine uses, and whether disclosure is voluntary or mandatory. Read it now, while you still have the choice of what to disclose.
Sign only after every other entry is complete. Use ink on a printed copy, or a credentialed digital signature — CAC-based, in a reader that handles it — on an electronic one. A typed name satisfies neither method. Enter the date next to it before you close the file.
Review before you submit. Look for a superseded edition, blank mandatory fields, illegible writing, dates in the wrong format, and an unsigned or undated certification.
Look up an unclear item on the form face before anywhere else, then in not stated. Should the two texts conflict, the directive is the one you follow.
Download the form
First, look at what you can download. The set covers PDF, the form runs 2 pages, and you will complete roughly 73 fields.
Take the pdf if you are unsure. Then check which kind you have: if the boxes highlight when you click them, you have a fillable pdf and can type straight into it, and your entries save with the file. If nothing highlights, you have a printable pdf — send it to a printer and use black ink.
Prefer typing over writing. Your form will likely be scanned and emailed onward, and typed text reproduces at every stage while pen strokes fade or blur. When you do write, print in capitals so the receiving clerk can read it.
What the form asks for
- Item 7. Economic analysis data Item 7. a. labor rate, enter present labor rate in dollars per hour
- Item 7. a. labor rate, enter proposed labor rate in dollars per hour
- Item 7 b. Enter present annual volume as number of work units
- Item 7 b. Enter proposed annual volume as number of work units
- Item 7 c. Enter present labor standard as hours per unit
- Item 7 c. Enter proposed labor standard as hours per unit
- Item 7. d. 1. Enter present labor cost per work unit in dollars, by multiplying item 7 a by item 7 c
- Item 7. d. 1. Enter proposed labor cost per work unit in dollars, by multiplying item 7 a by item 7 c
- Item 7. d. 2. Enter present material cost per work unit in dollars
- Item 7. d. 2. Enter proposed material cost per work unit in dollars
- Item 7. d. 3. Enter present miscellaneous cost per work unit in dollars
- Item 7. d. 3. Enter proposed miscellaneous cost per work unit in dollars
- Item 7. e. Enter present total cost per work unit by adding item 7. d. 1. plus item 7. d. 2. plus item 7. d. 3
- Item 7. e. Enter proposed total cost per work unit by adding item 7. d. 1. plus item 7. d. 2. plus item 7. d. 3
- Item 7. f. Enter present man hours per year by multiplying item 7 b by 7 c
- Item 7. f. Enter proposed man hours per year by multiplying item 7 b by 7 c
- Item 7. g. Enter present labor cost per year by multiplying Item 7 b. by Item 7. d. 1.
- Item 7. g. Enter proposed labor cost per year by multiplying Item 7 b. by Item 7. d. 1.
- Item 7. H. Enter present material cost per year by multiplying Item 7. b. by Item 7 d. 2.
- Item 7. H. Enter proposed material cost per year by multiplying Item 7. b. by Item 7 d. 2.
- Item 7. I. Enter present floor space in square feet
- Item 7. I. Enter proposed floor space in square feet
- Item 7. J. Enter present cost of floor space
- Item 7. J. Enter proposed cost of floor space
Now that it is complete, send it where not stated or your local procedure says it goes. Before you do, make yourself a copy — scan it or save the file elsewhere. It costs you nothing and saves you the whole exercise if the original goes missing.
When DD Form 2036 references another form, search on the series and number. Because DD numbers are common to every military department, the number by itself identifies exactly one document.
Be careful when a procedure pairs this form with a service form. Read the prefix, not just the digits. Service forms answer to a service proponent, while DD forms answer to not stated or an equivalent Department office, and the two sequences were never aligned. Grabbing the wrong prefix gets you a form that has nothing to do with your task.
Plan to repeat this step whenever the form comes up again. Revisions follow directive changes, changes in what data is collected, and updates to notice language. Since nobody notifies you, check not stated at download and you have covered it.
Finally, understand the limits of what you have read. This page distributes a published Department of Defense form and describes how to fill it out. It does not give legal or procedural advice, and it cannot promise any outcome for your particular case. For that, contact not stated, your administrative office, or the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2036?
- DD Form 2036, Methods Improvement Project Summary, December 1976
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?