CPV codes explained: how to find the right codes for your business

Every notice published on TED is classified with codes from the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV), and many national portals use the same codes. They are the most reliable way to search across countries and languages, because the same code means the same thing in a German notice and a Portuguese one. They are also imperfect, because buyers choose them by hand.

This guide explains how CPV codes work and how to choose a set that finds the tenders you want without burying them in noise.

What CPV codes are

The CPV is a single classification for everything public buyers purchase: works, supplies and services. It was set up by Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002, and the version in use today was introduced by Regulation (EC) No 213/2008. Its main vocabulary has about 9,450 codes.

Each notice has one main code, which describes the core of the contract, and can have additional codes for other parts. Lots can have their own codes too.

How a code is built

A CPV code has eight digits and a check digit, written like this: 72000000-5. The check digit only verifies the other digits; it carries no meaning. The first digits define a hierarchy:

Code	Level	Meaning
72000000-5	Division (first 2 digits)	IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
72200000-7	Group (first 3 digits)	Software programming and consultancy services
72260000-5	Class (first 4 digits)	Software-related services
72262000-9	Category (first 5 digits)	Software development services

The last three digits can make a category more precise still. A search tool that includes lower levels finds everything under the division when you search for 72; a search for 72262000 finds only that code, because nothing sits below it.

There is also a supplementary vocabulary: alphanumeric codes that add details such as material, form or purpose. Few searches need it.

Why one code is never enough

If buyers always chose the most precise code, searching would be simple. They don't, for understandable reasons:

• Broad codes are common. Many buyers pick the division (72000000) even when the contract is clearly software development.
• Neighboring divisions overlap. Software can sit under services (72) or under software packages and information systems (48). Engineering work for a building can sit under architectural and engineering services (71) or under construction work (45).
• Mixed contracts are usually classified by their main part. A contract to supply and install equipment may be coded as a supply, a service or works.

So a good set of codes covers your core activity precisely and adds the broader codes that buyers use for it.

A method for choosing your codes

1. Describe what you sell in one or two sentences, the way a buyer would describe the purchase, not the way you describe your company.
2. Find the divisions that cover it. Most companies need one to three.
3. Go one or two levels down and pick the groups and classes that match your work. Leave out the ones you don't do.
4. Run a search with these codes for the countries you care about and read twenty or thirty results. Our guide on how to find EU public tenders covers the search routine.
5. Adjust. If relevant tenders are missing, look at their codes and add them. If irrelevant tenders dominate, replace a broad code with narrower ones.
6. Review every few months. Your sense of which codes buyers use will improve as you read more notices.

Common mistakes

• Only the most precise code. You will miss every tender coded at a higher level.
• Only the division. Searching all of 72 brings in hardware consultancy, data entry, helpdesk services and internet domain names when you wanted software development.
• Copying codes from your company register entry. National activity codes (NACE and its national versions) are a different classification and do not map one-to-one to CPV.
• Ignoring additional codes. Some search tools look only at the main code. A tender for a building project may list your engineering service only as an additional code.

CPV codes and keywords together

Codes find the right part of the market; keywords narrow it. A search for 71000000 in Germany returns architectural, engineering and inspection services of every kind. Adding a few terms that describe your specialty, in the language of the notices, makes the list manageable.

Matching tools that read the whole notice, rather than only codes and keywords, go one step further: they can recognize that a tender coded as general IT services is in fact a software development contract that fits your profile. Whatever the tool, the starting point is the same: a clear description of what you sell and a sensible set of codes.