In May 2025, a revised version of the Standard Forms (SF) 85, 85P, 85P-S, and 86, with a date of February 2024, was made available in the National Background Investigation Services and Electronic Application for background investigations.
 
Starting Aug. 1, 2025, DCSA will sunset and no longer accept previous versions of the SF 85, 85P, 85P-S, and 86.
 
It is recommended that cleared industry submit any investigations initiated before May 12 to Adjudication and Vetting Services by July 18, 2025, to allow time for processing in advance of the August 1 deadline. If a case is returned to cleared industry for corrections or additional information, cleared industry should determine if the case can be corrected and returned to AVS with adequate processing time (roughly 10 days) to make it through in advance of the August 1 deadline.  If the case can’t be corrected and returned with adequate processing time, the SF should be re-initiated on the updated February 2024 SF forms.
 
For any forms rejected for missing the August 1 deadline, the case should be resubmitted using the updated February 2024 SF forms. New fingerprints are not required unless they are more than 120 days old.
 
Additional Information about the February 2024 Version:

• There are no changes to the questions listed on the forms.
• Updates were made to remove statements related to lifting a security freeze on consumer or credit report files in:
  • The opening instructions of under The Investigative Process section.
  • The Fair Credit Reporting Disclosure and Authorization form under the Authorization section.
• The SF85P-S is unaffected by the above changes; however, it too will have an updated version date of February 2024.

Please reach out to your Agency Liaison if you have any questions on the transition to the updated version of the standard forms.