central contractor registration

The company I work for regularly does work (construction related) with Hospitals and School Systems.

This summer, for the first time- in order to get contracts which utilized state or federal funds, we had to register through a department of defense program and declare exactly what services and products we are able to provide. It then puts us on a government listing which is a select list that these contracts may be granted to.

So if you don't register and give all your info to the department of defense, you now can't get many large construction projects.

The site to register is www.ccr.gov

Here is a quote with their slight explaination:
"Registering in the BPN Federal Agency Registration (FedReg):
OMB Memorandum M-03-01 requires all Government agencies that engage in buying or selling goods/services to other federal agencies to register in the Federal Agency Registration database (FedReg). At a minimum, this registration must be at the major component level. Registration at the major component level will assist agencies in identifying intragovernmental transactions below the Department level. In the near future, the registration data will be used to route intragovernmental transactions electronically through the Intragovernmental Transaction Portal (IGTP), currently being tested, and to facilitate automated settlement through Treasury's IPAC System."


Does anyone know why we need to now register to do regular business?

I get a strange feeling about it, I never like to tell someone all of our personal info when they have NO logical reason to know it.

They do not need the database of contractors, as there are numerous ways to obtain that already and they have been getting plenty of work done through the regular bidding process. I just see it as a way to classify and decide who they need to run...