Download the form
DA Form 12 handles one job: request for establishment of a publications account. The official title is REQUEST FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF A PUBLICATIONS ACCOUNT. Download it below, fill it in, sign it, send it where your directive says. The edition on this page is 06/01/2021, status ACTIVE, running 1 page(s) with about 147 fields to complete. This edition is superseded — pull the newer one unless your record was already executed on this version.
Authority sits in two places. CIO owns the form, PAM 25-38 says when it is raised and where it goes. Routine cases need neither read in full — the page itself carries the sequence. The entries are completed by their subject or by unit administrative staff working from what that person supplies.
Pick by how you will enter data: PDF on offer. Typing means fillable pdf, where the boxes accept keystrokes and hold them on save. Handwriting means printable pdf, a flat page image sent straight to a printer. Neither version changes what appears on the page.
A standalone reader is the safe choice for fillable work. Browser viewers vary in whether entered data survives the session, and there is no warning when it does not; a one-field save test settles it in seconds.
Nothing is charged and no sign-up applies. Files are served as published, without changes to the page image.
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 heading entries carry more weight than the body. Name spelled as in official records, identification number, organisation, date prepared. Retrieval runs on those values, so a transposed digit or a casual spelling costs someone a file search. Fill them before anything else.
Tab through the fields rather than clicking. The tab order was fixed when the form was built and generally follows the page, which catches boxes a mouse skips past. Check boxes and option buttons take a click, and an exclusive group clears the previous selection when you make a new one. Single-line fields do not wrap — text past the field width prints truncated while still showing in full on screen, which is why the loss is discovered after printing. Overflow goes to remarks or a continuation sheet. A field that does not apply gets the mark meaning none; blank space reads as an omission.
Sign last. An unsigned form is a draft whatever else is on it, and additional signatures — reviewer, approver, witness — follow printed block order with each signer dating the day they sign, not the day of preparation. Four faults account for most returns: a blank mandatory field, transposed digits in an identification number, day and month reversed in a date, and leftover entries in a working copy reused instead of a fresh blank. Read the form once from the top before releasing it.
Read the Privacy Act statement at the point it appears. Authority, purpose, routine uses, mandatory or voluntary — four facts, and they govern what you are about to enter. A completed copy holds personal data and takes the handling rules that attach to it.
Routing follows PAM 25-38 and nothing else — a named office, the unit administrative channel, or the individual's file, according to why the form was raised. Copy it before it leaves. Retention is fixed by the records schedule for the series, which local practice does not shorten or extend.
Related forms are found by series and number. DA series documents under the same proponent or the same prescribing directive are commonly required as a set, and any form named on the face of this one goes forward with it. Assemble continuations, covers and transmittals before submitting, not after the query comes back.
A stored file goes stale silently. The proponent revises, a new edition date is published, and your copy says nothing about it — so compare the printed date against the edition in force before typing into it again. Completed submissions on an earlier edition are not reopened.
These are reproductions of published Department of the Army documents, offered for download. The site is independent, connected to nothing official, and issues no forms of its own. Nothing here is legal advice and no statement is made about acceptance by any office. Questions about an entry, a requirement or eligibility go to CIO or your 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