Portals and systems
CPV codes(CPV)
Written by Justin Cesman, CEO of Skim. Last reviewed:
- Definition
- CPV codes — the Common Procurement Vocabulary — are a standardised set of nine-digit numbers that public sector buyers use to classify the subject of a contract notice. Maintained by the European Union and retained by the UK after Brexit, CPV codes let suppliers search and filter procurement portals consistently.
Key takeaways
- A CPV code is eight digits plus a check digit (shown after a hyphen); the more trailing zeros, the broader the category.
- The system is hierarchical across five levels: division (2 digits), group (3), class (4), category (5), then up to three further digits for detail.
- There are 9,454 codes in the main vocabulary, across 45 divisions, 317 groups, 1,321 classes and 3,704 categories, plus a separate supplementary vocabulary for qualifiers.
- Every notice above threshold on Find a Tender must carry at least one CPV code — buyers assign them, so a miscoded notice can hide an opportunity from you.
- The Procurement Act 2023 leaves the CPV system itself unchanged; experienced bidders monitor a spread of primary and adjacent codes rather than one narrow code.
How it works
A CPV code is a numeric sequence of eight digits plus a ninth check digit, written after a hyphen — for example 72212000-4 for application software development. The code is paired with a fixed wording that describes the supplies, works or services being procured, in any language, so a buyer in Manchester and a supplier in Madrid read the same classification. The system is set in EU law (Regulation EC 213/2008) and was retained by the UK after Brexit; gov.uk guidance still requires the nine-digit code when advertising on the Find a Tender service.
The codes are organised as a tree across five levels of increasing precision. The first two digits identify the division (for example 72 = IT services); the third digit narrows to a group (722 = software programming and consultancy); the fourth digit to a class; the fifth to a category; and the final three digits give the most precise description within that category. Zeros fill the unused trailing positions — the more zeros a code carries, the more general it is. The main vocabulary holds 9,454 codes across 45 divisions, 317 groups, 1,321 classes and 3,704 categories, alongside a supplementary vocabulary that adds qualifiers such as a delivery method or target user group.
For suppliers, the practical problem is that CPV codes are assigned by the buyer, not the bidder, and buyers frequently miscode. A single opportunity can legitimately sit under several codes, and a notice tagged too generically — or under the wrong division entirely — will not surface in a narrow alert. A digital transformation project might appear under IT services (72), management consultancy (79) or education and training (80) depending on who wrote the notice. The reliable approach is to map every service you deliver to its codes, set alerts at class level for breadth and category level for your core work, and monitor adjacent codes your competitors bid under. Reading the codes on past contract notices and award notices shows how buyers in your market actually classify, rather than how they should.
The five levels of a CPV code
| Level | Digits used | Example | What it describes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division | First 2 | 72000000 | IT services |
| Group | First 3 | 72200000 | Software programming and consultancy |
| Class | First 4 | 72210000 | Programming services of packaged software |
| Category | First 5 | 72212000 | Application software development services |
| Full code | 8 + check digit | 72212000-4 | The most precise classification, with error-checking digit |
Under the Procurement Act 2023
Reviewed
The CPV system itself is unchanged by procurement reform: the same nine-digit codes apply whether a procurement began under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (before 24 February 2025) or under the Procurement Act 2023 (on or after that date), and gov.uk still requires a CPV code for every above-threshold notice on Find a Tender. The one material change concerns the light touch regime. Under PCR 2015, the lighter rules for certain social, health and education services were defined by broad CPV categories; the Procurement Act 2023 instead specifies the qualifying services in regulations by reference to defined CPV codes, so check the current list rather than assuming a category still qualifies.
Sources: GOV.UK — Classifying contracts (CPV codes) · Procurement Act 2023 (legislation.gov.uk)
Why it matters for bidders
CPV codes decide whether you find an opportunity or miss it entirely, and the failure mode is silent: a buyer tags a notice under one division, your alert is set to another, and a winnable contract never reaches you. Because buyers assign the codes and routinely miscode, the bidders who win consistently treat CPV as a map to read, not a filter to trust — they monitor a spread of primary and adjacent codes, and they mine the codes on published award notices to see exactly how their market is classified and which competitors win under which code. That award-data discipline, drawn from teams who have won more than £3bn in UK and EU public contracts, turns a clumsy classification system into a competitive-intelligence signal.
How Skim helps
Skim's Opportunity Discovery agent maps your capabilities to their CPV codes and the adjacent categories buyers commonly misclassify under, monitoring across code boundaries so an opportunity is never lost to a coding quirk — and its Competitor Analysis agent reads the CPV codes on historical award notices to show which competitors win under which classification, so you can target the codes that actually convert.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a CPV code?
- A CPV code is a Common Procurement Vocabulary code: a standardised eight-digit number plus a check digit that public sector buyers use to classify the subject of a contract. CPV codes let suppliers search and filter procurement portals such as Find a Tender for relevant opportunities, regardless of the notice's language.
- How many CPV codes are there?
- The main CPV vocabulary contains 9,454 codes, organised into 45 divisions, 317 groups, 1,321 classes and 3,704 categories. A separate supplementary vocabulary provides additional qualifiers, such as delivery method or target user group, that buyers can attach to describe secondary characteristics of a contract.
- How do I find the right CPV code for my business?
- List every service you actually deliver, then match each to its codes using an official search tool. The most reliable method is reverse lookup: find past contract notices and award notices for work like yours and note the codes buyers used. Most businesses map to between five and fifteen CPV codes.
- Are CPV codes still used in the UK after Brexit and the Procurement Act 2023?
- Yes. The UK retained the Common Procurement Vocabulary after Brexit and continues to use it under the Procurement Act 2023, which took effect on 24 February 2025. Every above-threshold notice on Find a Tender must carry at least one CPV code; the codes themselves are unchanged by the Act.
- Why do buyers assign the wrong CPV code?
- The CPV list has 9,454 codes and is not always intuitive, so buyers sometimes pick a code that is too generic or in the wrong division. A single contract can legitimately fit several codes. Because the buyer chooses, a miscoded notice can hide an opportunity from suppliers using narrow alerts.
Sources
Related terms
Tenders Electronic Daily(TED)
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) is the European Union's official platform for public procurement notices, publishing the Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU. It carries around 800,000 above-threshold notices a year, worth more than €815 billion, across all EU and EEA countries.
Contract notice
A contract notice is the formal advertisement a public sector buyer publishes to start a competitive procurement and invite tenders or requests to participate. It names the requirement, the procedure, the response deadline, and where to access the tender documents. Under the Procurement Act 2023 it is renamed the tender notice.
Light touch regime(LTR)
The light touch regime (LTR) is a simplified UK procurement regime for specified social, health, education, and similar services delivered to people. It applies a far higher threshold — £663,540 including VAT — and lets buyers design their own award process instead of following the standard procedures.