diff --git a/travis/nwchem.bashrc b/travis/nwchem.bashrc
index 16ee558441..296f9f8fdf 100644
--- a/travis/nwchem.bashrc
+++ b/travis/nwchem.bashrc
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ arch=`uname -m`
 if test -f "/usr/lib/os-release"; then
     dist=$(grep ID= /etc/os-release |head -1 |cut -c4-| sed 's/\"//g')
 fi
+if [ -z "$CC" ] ; then
+    CC=$cc
+fi
 if [ -z "$DISTR" ] ; then
     DISTR=$dist
 fi