What is DD Form 1597? It is a Department of Defense form titled DD Form 1597, Contract Closeout Check-List, April 2000, and its job is straightforward: Contract Closeout Check-List. That single line covers most of what people want to know before they download it.
Will you need a different form because of where you serve? No. DD forms are Department-wide instruments, and that scope is what separates them from service publications. One edition, all branches, defense agencies included.
Who decides this form exists? not stated owns it; not stated directs its use. If someone told you to file this, the authority traces back to those.
How current is this? Edition not stated, publisher status not stated. That is the version described throughout this page.
What the form asks for
- 1. Contract Number.
- 2. Contract modification numbers (if applicable).
- 3. Name of contractor.
- 4. Date of physical completion (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no dividers).
- 5. Action items. a. Disposition of classified material completed. 6. Milestones/calendar months after physical completion. Category 2.
- Category 3.
- Category 4.
- 7. Forecast completion date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 8. Date action completed: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, or NA if not applicable.
- 5.b. Final patent report submitted (Inventions/disclosures) (DD Form 882). 6. Milestones/calendar months after physical completion. Category 2.
- Category 3.
- Category 4.
- 7. Forecast completion date.
- 8. Date action completed (or NA if not applicable).
- 5.c. Final royalty report submitted. 6. Milestones/calendar months after physical completion. Category 2.
- Category 3.
- Category 4.
- 7. Forecast completion date.
- 8. Date action completed (or NA if not applicable).
- 5.d. Final patent report cleared (Inventions/disclosures). 6. Milestones/calendar months after physical completion. Category 2.
- Category 3.
- Category 4.
- 7. Forecast completion date.
- 8. Date action completed (or NA if not applicable).
Download the form
What formats exist for this form? PDF. What is the scale of it? 1 pages and approximately 123 fields.
Fillable or printable — which do you have? Click inside a box. If it accepts a cursor and typed text, the file is fillable and your entries save with it. If nothing happens, the pdf is flat, and the only way forward is printing it and writing on paper.
Is handwriting acceptable? Yes, but it is the weaker choice. Scanning flattens pen strokes and reproduction blurs them, while typed characters survive the whole chain intact. Print in capitals if you are working from a paper blank.
Is xfdl worth downloading? Only if you have the viewer. The format comes from IBM Lotus Forms, which carried Defense form distribution for a long stretch, and no ordinary pdf application will read it.
What does any of this cost? Nothing. Every format listed is a free download. One practical note: save the file and open it in a desktop pdf reader, because browser previews often ignore interactive fields and lose what you typed.
Can you skip around the form? Better not to. The layout runs identification, then content, then certification, and entries near the bottom frequently take their meaning from what sits above them.
What is the first thing to check? The edition date on the face of the form. Does it read not stated? If not, the copy is superseded, and a superseded DD form is a real problem: Department-level revisions replace the blank for every service at once, so an old file on a shared drive is stale everywhere, not just in your office.
Where do you look up an unclear entry? The form face first, not stated second. And when the two disagree? not stated controls.
What happens after you finish? It routes to the office specified in not stated or in local guidance. And your own record? Save a duplicate first; nobody regrets having one.
Do you need to know which branch issued a related form? No. DD numbering is Department-wide and unified, which means the number on its own is a complete address for the document.
Do DA and DD numbers ever correspond? Never. DA numbering is Army-specific, administered by an Army proponent, while DD numbering is Department-wide under not stated or an equivalent Department office. Identical digits in the two systems mean two unrelated documents, which is why the prefix matters more than the number.
Should you archive this file and reuse it next year? Better not. Forms are revised as directives are reissued, as data requirements shift and as statutory notice text is updated, and none of that reaches you directly. Download fresh, check the edition date.
Will your completed form be accepted? That is not a question this page can answer. What you have here is a published Department of Defense document, a description of it and instructions for filling it out. Nothing on the page is legal advice, and nothing here determines what any office does with a submission. Where do the remaining questions go? To not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 1597?
- DD Form 1597, Contract Closeout Check-List, April 2000
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?