Start here if you have been told to submit DD Form 2856. First, know what you are filling: DoD Semi-Annual Program Review/Facility Inspection Checklist. The document is titled DD Form 2856, DoD Semiannual Program Review/Facility Inspection Checklist, May 2012.
Then look at the edition date: not stated, publisher status not stated. After that, ask whether the form covers your situation. It almost certainly does regardless of your branch — DD forms run Department-wide rather than through a single service.
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.
Before you download, pick your approach — editable file or printed page. What follows covers the formats first, then the entries, then what you do afterward.
Start at the header. Complete your identification before anything else, then work through the main entries, then finish at the certification. Skipping around causes contradictions between the top of the form and the bottom.
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 Old copies circulate in shared drives for years, and a DD form is revised centrally for every service at once, so a superseded blank may not carry the fields your reviewer expects.
If a particular field puzzles you, read the instructions printed on the form first, then go to not stated. When the two disagree, follow the directive.
Download the form
Step one is picking the format. You have PDF to choose from, across 4 pages, with approximately 140 fields to complete.
Choose pdf as your default. Next, click inside a box. A fillable pdf responds by outlining the field and letting you type; the text stays in the document when you save it. A printable pdf does not respond, which tells you to print the page and complete it by hand.
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.
Handle xfdl in two steps. First confirm you have IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or a compatible reader on your machine; ordinary pdf software will report the file as broken. Once the viewer is running, download and fill the form.
All of it downloads free. When you are ready to work, do this: save the file locally, then open it in a full pdf application. Browsers often ignore field properties, and you can lose everything you typed.
What the form asks for
- Organization.
- Date of review (4 digit year, 3 letter month, 2 digit day).
- 1.a. Program management responsbility. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (1) The institutional official. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (2) The attending veterinarian. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (3) The institutional animal care and use committee. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (4) Collaborations. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- b. Personnel management. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (1) Training and education. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (a) Veterinary and other professional staff. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (b) Animal care personnel. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (c) The research team. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (d) The IACUC. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (2) Occupational health and safety of personnel. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (a) Control and prevention strategies. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (b) Hazard identification and risk assessment. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (c) Facilities, equipment and monitoring. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (d) Personnel training. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (e) Personal hygiene. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (f) Animal experimentation involving hazards. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (g) Personal protection. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (h) Medical evaluation and preventive medicine for personnel. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (3) Personnel security. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
- (4) Investigating and reporting animal welfare concerns. X first box if acceptable, 2nd if minor deficiency, 3rd if significant deficiency, 4th if not applicable.
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.
Should you need a related form, look it up by its number. The DD sequence is Department-wide, which makes your search simple: no service qualifier, no branch-specific variant to track down.
Watch out for one trap here. If your instructions cite a DA form as well, do not assume the numbers are connected. DA numbering belongs to the Army alone; DD numbering belongs to the Department and is administered by not stated or another Department office. The same number in each system means two unrelated forms, so read the prefix before you download.
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 2856?
- DD Form 2856, DoD Semiannual Program Review/Facility Inspection Checklist, May 2012
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?