Military Forms Guide

DA Form 7307-R — COST ESTIMATING WORKSHEET-FACILITY ALTERATION (LRA)

cost estimating worksheet-facility alteration (lra)

Every entry on DA Form 7307-R exists because a record system needs it in writing. The form's official title is COST ESTIMATING WORKSHEET-FACILITY ALTERATION (LRA), and it is raised whenever an office must cost estimating worksheet-facility alteration (lra) in a way that survives the departure of everyone involved. Memory does not transfer between assignments; a filed document does. The edition dated 04/01/1994, status ACTIVE, is what stands here, spread across 1 page(s) and about 200 fields — a count that reflects how much detail the receiving system requires, not how much the drafter wishes to give.

Behind any Army form sit two separate decisions. What the document asks is settled by USACE, which maintains and revises it. Whether you raise it, and where it goes once signed, is settled by TM 5-800-4. That division is the reason a form can outlive several changes in the process it serves.

Identification precedes substance for a structural reason. Name, identification number, organisation and date of preparation are how the finished document is located in a file or a database; the body of the form is what someone reads after the search has succeeded. Spell the name as official records spell it, since the search runs against those records and not against habit.

Tab order is not a convenience feature; it was fixed when the form was built and generally traces the page, so following it produces the sequence the designer intended and leaves fewer gaps than a mouse. Exclusive option groups clear the previous selection because the record is not permitted to hold two contradictory answers. Single-line fields do not wrap for the same reason the layout is fixed: the printed page has to fall in known positions, so text past the field width is cut at the margin even though the screen still shows it whole. Overflow belongs in remarks or on a continuation, where there is room designed for it. And an inapplicable field is marked rather than skipped, since a blank tells a later reader nothing about whether the question was considered.

The signature is the point at which entries become an assertion someone stands behind, so it follows everything else and its absence leaves a draft. Countersignatures by reviewing, approving or witnessing officials each carry their own weight and are dated at signing, which is how the file preserves the order of responsibility. Seen that way, the familiar errors are not clerical trivia: an unanswered mandatory field, digits transposed in an identification number, day and month reversed, and residue from a reused file each put something false or unresolved into a document that will be relied upon.

Behind the Privacy Act statement is a requirement that anyone asked for personal data be told, in advance, under what authority it is sought, for what purpose, who else routinely sees it, and whether refusal is possible. Reading it after completing the fields defeats its function. And the completed form is itself a personal record from that point on, subject to the handling rules such records carry.

Download the form

Formats exist because completion happens under different conditions, not because anyone wanted variety. The published set is PDF, XFDL. A fillable pdf carries live entry objects, so typed text lands in fixed positions and stays legible whoever reads it later. A printable pdf drops those objects and leaves the page as an image, which is what an office needs where a screen is unavailable and a pen is not. The document itself is unchanged between them; what differs is the circumstance each anticipates.

The choice of application decides whether your work survives. Browsers render pdfs as documents to be read; where a viewer shows fields without a mechanism to store them, typed text disappears when the tab closes, and nothing announces the loss. A full reader treats the file as a form and preserves entries on save. The xfdl format comes from IBM Lotus Forms, used across Army systems because of the routing and signature functions built into it, and it opens in the Lotus Forms Viewer alone.

Downloads are free and unregistered. The material was published for general use, and the files are passed on unaltered.

What the form asks for

  • ALTERED
  • ALTERED_1
  • ALTERED_10
  • ALTERED_11
  • ALTERED_12
  • ALTERED_13
  • ALTERED_2
  • ALTERED_3
  • ALTERED_4
  • ALTERED_5
  • ALTERED_6
  • ALTERED_7
  • ALTERED_8
  • ALTERED_9
  • AREA
  • AREA_ALT
  • BASIS_EST
  • BLDG_NUM
  • BOX1
  • BOX2
  • BOX3
  • CATE_CODE
  • CATG_CODE
  • CONST_STR

The routing in TM 5-800-4 decides where the document goes — a named office, the administrative channel, or the individual's file — and the records schedule for the series decides how long it stays. Neither is a local judgement, because a record system loses its meaning if each office keeps things for its own preferred interval. Copy the form before submitting it.

Series and number are how the DA series signals which documents belong together, and the grouping follows real process boundaries: a shared proponent or directive usually means a shared purpose. A form cited on the face of another is part of that same transaction, and continuation sheets, covers and transmittals complete it.

An edition marks the form at a point in a process that keeps moving, and the date printed on the page is what distinguishes one from another. Since a saved file never announces its own obsolescence, compare its date against the current edition before using it again. Prior executions remain valid: the change applies forward, and a record is read against the edition it was written under.

A word on where this page sits. These are reproductions of published Department of the Army documents, made available by an independent site with no official role and no authority to issue forms. The structure described above — proponent, prescribing directive, records schedule — exists apart from this site entirely, which is why nothing written here is legal advice and why acceptance by any office is not something that can be promised. Put questions of entry, requirement or eligibility to USACE or to the administrative office servicing your unit.

Questions and answers

What is DA Form 7307-R?
COST ESTIMATING WORKSHEET-FACILITY ALTERATION (LRA)
Which edition is current?
04/01/1994
Who is responsible for this form?
USACE
In which formats can it be downloaded?
PDF, XFDL, PDF

Publisher notes

  1. 41-ITEM ALSO PRODUCED IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA

Other forms in the series