Bolstering Readiness with Secure, Automated Agreements

As highlighted at the recent AFCEA West Conference, the concept of readiness was at the forefront of all critical discussions by U.S. Navy leadership. For the Navy and other armed services, effective readiness comes down to the organization of units, thorough training, and access to the equipment and commercial products needed to accomplish the mission.

To help the armed services enhance readiness, Docusign, in partnership with Carahsoft, recently hosted the webinar: “WEST 2024 Webinar Series: Bolstering Readiness with Secure, Automated Agreements.”

What are agreements?

Agreements include forms, contracts, and various documents used to make authorizations and commitments between the government and one or more parties.

As a result, an agreement can be verbal or written, legally unenforceable or legally binding, and non-negotiated or negotiated. Essentially, agreements are the “glue” to many critical workflows that enable readiness, such as onboarding a warfighter, employing a contractor, procuring funds, or executing training certifications.

Across the front and back offices of the armed services, there are thousands of agreements and forms that touch warfighters, service members, and constituents. Overall, there are more than 4,500 unique internal forms and agreements that cost the DoD approximately $1.7 billion annually.

Why you need the right partner

Agreements make readiness a reality by enhancing recruitment, optimizing training, and integrating the right technology. To best focus on the mission, you need the right partner to help securely automate agreement workflows.

Docusign serves more than 4,500 local, state, and federal public sector organizations—and over a billion users globally. With expertise in helping defense agencies focus on maintaining readiness instead of piles of paperwork, Docusign can help deliver a better warfighter experience and streamline mission processes.

In addition, Docusign has achieved and maintained high-security standards, including a DoD IL4 authorized boundary and two FedRAMP Moderate authorizations encompassing several Docusign products and services. The Docusign GovCloud boundary is also connected to the Defense Information System Network (DISN) through an authorized DISA Boundary Cloud Access Point (BCAP) and provides DoD mission owners access to Docusign products and features to help support their operating forces.

Docusign in action: Optimizing the recruiting experience

When building a total force, the DoD faces complex and multifaceted challenges. These include an economy that presents more opportunities for young people to avoid traditional career and life paths, ultimately creating a smaller eligible recruiting population.

As a result, during fiscal year 2023, the military services collectively missed recruiting goals by about 41,000 recruits. To help address these challenges, Docusign demonstrated how a more streamlined recruiting process can:

• Leverage a core system of record where data from recruits self-populates in all relevant hiring forms. This way, the recruits do not need to enter the data multiple times for the various, often numerous, forms. 

• Determine which form to send and the appropriate recipient(s).

• Store signed forms and deliver them via SMS.

Overall, this improves the total win rate per recruiter by replacing time-consuming, manual processes managed across disparate systems with simple, secure, streamlined workflows. It also provides a digital-friendly hiring experience, enabling recruits, recruiters, and civilian employees to more easily sign agreements.

Docusign in action: Maintenance of your military career

For recruits to effectively maintain their careers, there are often many trainings, certifications—and the associated paperwork—to ensure long-term readiness. For example, the DD-2875 form is a highly-adopted document used to request and adjudicate system authorization and access requests across the DoD.

Today, departments are often manually managing the DD-2875 form. Service members must download or get this form in person to use it. From there, they populate it and “wet sign” it in ink. Then, they need to scan, fax, or email the form back to the approver to review and grant access.

Once completed and received, the approver needs to review the form and ensure there are no errors before co-signing and granting access. The DD-2875 must be stored in the correct location, and someone must track the systems to which the service member has access.

With Docusign, this process looks like the following:

• All manual processes and data entry are automated through a self-service portal.

• All of the information is stored in a record system, and the interface self-populates the form.

• The service member can use their Common Access Card (CAC) to sign the DD-2875.

• The workflow within Docusign digitally and automatically sends the form to the appropriate party—so the service member never has to worry about where and how to send it.

Docusign enables the following readiness outcomes

When DoD agencies transform their agreement processes, they’ll achieve:

• Faster approvals: Quick and secure electronic signatures reduce the time required for obtaining approvals.

• Efficient document workflows: The platform facilitates the creation of streamlined workflows for document review and approval, ensuring that critical documents move through the necessary channels promptly.

• Global accessibility: Personnel stationed around the world can collaborate on documents and transactions in real time, fostering efficient communication and decision-making regardless of geographic location.

• Improved resource allocation: Units can allocate resources more efficiently when administrative tasks are streamlined, allowing personnel to focus on mission-critical activities.

Docusign breaks down data silos, streamlines workflows, and delivers better service member experiences. Watch the “WEST 2024 Webinar Series: Bolstering Readiness with Secure, Automated Agreements” to learn how you can stay focused on the mission by modernizing agreement workflows.