|
December 22, 2003
SBA,
OMB, GSA and DOD Work Together to Integrate Pro-Net and CCR
Database to Simplify Contracting Process for Small Businesses
Washington,
D.C. - The U.S. Small Business Administration, the Department
of Defense, the Office of Management and Budget and the General
Services Administration are taking steps to simplify the federal
contracting process by creating an integrated database of
small businesses that want to do business with the government.
The integration of the existing Pro-Net and DOD’s Central
Contractor Registration (CCR) databases will create one portal
for entering and searching small business sources and will
assist small businesses with marketing their goods and services
to the federal government. The integration will begin on Jan
1.
The CCR-PRO-Net linkage is part of a comprehensive strategic
effort to transfer Pro-Net’s functions to the E-Gov
Business Partner Network (BPN) in order to simplify government-wide
vendor registration. The network is part of the Integrated
Acquisition Environment (IAE), one of the E-Government initiatives
under the President’s Management Agenda.
IAE is carrying out OMB’s mandate
for new processes to streamline federal acquisition by creating
common integrated business processes for buyers and sellers
in the federal marketplace. The network incorporates DOD’s
CCR database. Registration in CCR is now a requirement for
federal contracts. After Dec. 31, CCR will assume all of Pro-Net’s
search capabilities and functions and small businesses will
no longer need to manually register in both Pro-Net and CCR.
“We are continuing to make strides in simplifying the
process to help small businesses conduct business with the
government,” said SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto.
“By integrating PRO-Net’s functions into CCR,
the foundation of the Business Partner Network, we are helping
to advance the President’s goal of a single, user-friendly,
integrated acquisition environment.”
This merger is another step toward the goals to unify common
systems and ensure that data need only be entered once and
then reused.
Procuring agencies and contracting officers who rely on Pro-Net
as the authoritative source for vendors that are certified
in SBA's 8(a) Business Development program, HUBZone Empowerment
Contracting Program and Small Disadvantaged Business program
will now access this information through CCR. To conduct market
research and confirm eligibility for SBA’s procurement
preference programs, users will go to the CCR web site at
www.ccr.gov
and click on the “Dynamic Small Business Search”
button. All of the search options and information that existed
in Pro-Net will now be found at the CCR Dynamic Small Business
Search site.
Within SBA, Pro-Net will be superseded by the Small Business
Source System, an internal
database of businesses certified by SBA as participants in
the 8(a), HUBZone and SDB
programs. Businesses will no longer have to self-certify as
a small business for purposes of registering in CCR and being
identified as a small business in the SBSS. The SBSS system
will perform calculations necessary to determine whether companies
are small, based on employment or revenue information entered
into CCR. Firms will update their records on the CCR Update
web page and should follow the links and directions found
there.
For more information about CCR, please visit the CCR web site
at www.ccr.gov
or contact Tina Johnson by e-mail at Tina.Johnson@sba.gov.
For more information about IAE, visit the web site at http://egov.gsa.gov.
Back
to top>
|