Wyoming Business Tips for March 27

March 21, 2011

A weekly look at Wyoming business questions from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (WSBDC), part of WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Natasha Stahla, Wyoming Entrepreneur, Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) procurement specialist

"I have heard about a CCR profile. Can you explain what it is?" Jessie, Worland

The CCR is the Central Contractor Registration and is a mandatory registration for all businesses to work with the government.

In order to register on CCR, you must first obtain a DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) number by calling 1-866-705-5711. The DUNS number does not cost anything and will be given over the phone. Within 24-48 hours, the number will be activated and you can continue to the next step, the CCR. For help completing the CCR process, visit the Wyoming Entrepreneur PTAC website at www.wyen.biz and click on the PTAC button on the bottom left.

Once you have your CCR completed, it is important to keep it up to date. What this means is to make sure that the current bank information, address, email, phone number, etc. are correctly entered. Having the incorrect bank information can delay payment on a contract and possibly prevent one from being awarded.

Keeping a registration updated also means updating it annually and is a requirement of the CCR database. If you do not update your CCR annually the registration will become inactive.

Recently there has been a change with the CCR database. In the past, if a registration were to become inactive, the businesses CCR profile was still searchable in the database. The search would come up as an inactive registration but would include the CCR profile that provided the business information. Now, if you let your CCR go inactive, the business registration and information will not be available. This is a big change and can cause for lost exposure of a business when contracting officers are in CCR looking for a certain business.

To see if your CCR is active, visit the website at www.ccr.gov and click on "CCR Search," enter the DUNS number and hit the search button. If the CCR has disappeared and you would like to update the registration, log into your account and make the appropriate updates.

For further assistance, contact the Wyoming Entrepreneur PTAC and you will be guided through the steps to an active and updated CCR profile. Any questions or comments can be e-mailed to nstahla1@uwyo.edu.

A blog version of this article and an opportunity to post comments is available at http://www.wyomingentrepreneur.typepad.com/blog/.

The WSBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming. To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, e-mail wsbdc@uwyo.edu or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922.

Find us on Instagram (Link opens a new window)Find us on Facebook (Link opens a new window)Find us on Twitter (Link opens a new window)Find us on LinkedIn (Link opens a new window)Find us on YouTube (Link opens a new window)