New centimeter-wave (7-80GHz) and submillimeter-wave (580-661GHz) spectra of a deuterated species of methyl formate (DCOOCH_3_) have been measured. Transitions with a maximum value of J=64 and K=36 have been assigned and fitted together with previous measurements. The internal rotation of this compound was treated using the so-called rho axis method (RAM). A total of 1703 transitions were fitted using this method. Only 24 parameters were employed in the final fit, which has an rms deviation of 94.2kHz. The dipole moment and the nuclear quadrupole coupling constants of the deuterated species have also been obtained. This new study has permitted a tentative detection of DCOOCH_3_ in Orion with the IRAM 30m telescope based on the observation of more than 100 spectral features with low blending effects among the 400 lines expected in the observed frequency domain (for which over 300 are heavily blended with other species). These 100 transitions are above noise and confusion limited without heavy blending and cannot be assigned to any other species. Moreover, none of the strongest unblended transitions is missing. The derived source-averaged total column density for DCOOCH_3_ is 7.8x10^14^cm^-2^ and the DCOOCH_3_/HCOOCH_3_ column density ratio varies between 0.02 and 0.06 in the different cloud components of Orion. This value is consistent with the deuteration enhancement found for other species in this cloud.