How to Complete and Submit DD Form 3145-4: Military Spouse PPP

DD Form 3145-4, the Military Spouse PPP Self-Certification Checklist, is the one-page form you attach to a DoD job application on USAJOBS to claim Military Spouse Preference under the Priority Placement Program. Download the current edition (dated June 2023, expiring June 30, 2026) as a free PDF from the Washington Headquarters Services Executive Services Directorate.¹ A fresh copy has to go with every application; you cannot fill it out once and reuse it.²

Save the PDF to your computer before typing in it. Filling it out inside a browser tab can scramble the fillable fields.

Confirm You’re Eligible Before You Start

All of the following have to be true, or the checklist will not work for you:

You are a U.S. citizen.
Your sponsor is on active duty in the Armed Forces, Coast Guard, or full-time National Guard or Reserves, and has served more than 180 consecutive days.
You were married before your sponsor’s reporting date to the new permanent duty station. If you are claiming eligibility under 5 CFR 315.612, the marriage must predate the orders themselves.²
You are relocating with your sponsor and will reside at the new duty station.
You are immediately appointable to a competitive service position.
The PCS orders are not tied to your sponsor’s retirement or separation.³

Working Through the 15 Self-Certification Items

The form is a checklist of 15 statements. You read each one and mark whether it applies. Nothing on the form is a trick, but a few items have consequences that catch people out. It helps to think of the items in groups.

Items 1–3: Citizenship, Sponsor Status, Orders

These confirm you are a U.S. citizen, that your sponsor has been on active duty more than 180 consecutive days, and that the PCS orders are not for retirement or separation. If your sponsor is retiring or separating, stop here. You are not eligible and should not submit the form.³

Items 4–5: Application Method and Geographic Area

Item 4 acknowledges that preference only works if you have a login.gov account, a USAJOBS profile, and actually apply to announcements. Preference is not automatic matching; you have to find and apply to the positions yourself. Item 5 confirms you understand that preference applies only within the commuting area of your sponsor’s current permanent duty station.³

Items 6–9: What Uses Up or Ends Your Preference

This is the section to read slowly. Item 6 states that divorce, your sponsor’s death, or retirement or separation ends your preference. Items 8 and 9 are where people lose eligibility without realizing it: military spouse preference is a one-shot benefit per PCS move. Accepting or declining a permanent federal position in the commuting area uses it up, even a position you did not really want.⁴

Item 7 is the counterweight. Accepting or declining a temporary position does not spend your preference. “Temporary” here includes term appointments regardless of duration, intermittent or seasonal schedules, and NAF positions categorized as “flexible.”³

Items 10–13: Your Current Employment

These ask whether you have already accepted or declined a permanent federal position in the commuting area, whether you already hold a permanent position at the current duty station, and whether you are working under a remote agreement that lets you keep your job from the new location. Answer truthfully. A false certification here can cost you your preference entirely and expose you to disciplinary action.⁴

Items 14–15: Relocation and Conduct

Item 14 asks whether you have already relocated. Item 15 asks whether you have had on-the-job performance or conduct problems in the last 12 months. A “yes” on 15 does not automatically disqualify you, but the hiring office will see it.³

Documents That Have to Go With the Form

The checklist by itself is not enough. Each application needs a supporting package:

A federal-style narrative resume covering qualifications, work history, and education.
Your sponsor’s PCS orders. The orders must authorize spouse travel; if they don’t, you need amended orders adding you as an authorized dependent.
A marriage certificate or license showing the marriage predates the PCS orders date.
A newly completed DD Form 3145-4 filled out for this specific application.

If you have prior federal work experience, you will usually also need your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action). Check each vacancy announcement, since individual postings can require additional documents.²

Submitting Through USAJOBS

Upload the completed checklist and supporting documents as part of your application package through USAJOBS. The vacancy announcement must list “Priority Placement Program (PPP) DoD Military Spouse Preference (MSP) Eligible” in its assessments. If that flag is not on the announcement, you cannot exercise your preference on that particular posting.⁴

A new checklist has to be attached to every application. The most common avoidable errors are forgetting to attach the form at all, reusing a stale copy from a previous application, and leaving out the PCS orders. Any of those and your application will be processed without preference consideration.

If you are rated best qualified for the position and the announcement was properly coded, your application blocks the selection of other competitive candidates. A hiring manager can still interview you, but cannot pick a non-priority candidate over you.⁴

Positions the Preference Doesn’t Cover

Military Spouse Preference through DD Form 3145-4 applies to competitive and excepted service positions at DoD activities in the United States and U.S. territories, at GS-15 and below or the equivalent. Several categories are outside the preference, so filing the form for them will not help:

Positions covered by a mandatory mobility agreement
Positions in the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System or in organizations whose primary function is intelligence, counterintelligence, or national security
NAF positions (though accepting a permanent NAF position uses up your preference)
Positions in foreign areas, competitive or excepted
Positions filled noncompetitively, including through direct hire or expedited hire authority
Educator positions in the DoD Dependents Schools system
Any position you apply for after you have already obtained permanent federal employment in the commuting area⁴

For overseas duty stations, the PPP preference does not apply, though a separate direct hire pilot program covers spouses at posts outside the United States. Those appointments are time-limited (up to six years total) and no new appointments under that authority may be made after December 31, 2026.²

Questions About the Form Itself

For questions about DD Form 3145-4 specifically, the contact listed on the official page is the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at osd.pentagon.ousd-p-r.mbx.forms@mail.mil. The form collects personal information under 10 U.S.C. 136 and DoDI 1400.25, Volume 1800. Providing it is voluntary, but without it you cannot participate in the Priority Placement Program.³

1
Executive Services Directorate. DD Form 3145-4
2
DoD Civilian Careers. Military Spouse Preference Program
3
Department of Defense. DD Form 3145-4, Military Spouse PPP Self-Certification Checklist
4
Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service. Department of Defense Priority Placement Program Handbook