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CPV codes: the practical guide for tender suppliers

If you monitor public tenders, CPV codes are the single most important filter you will set. Get them right and you see every relevant opportunity with almost no noise; get them wrong and you either drown in irrelevant notices or miss contracts you could have won. This guide explains what CPV codes are and how to use them.

1. What is CPV?

CPV — the Common Procurement Vocabulary — is the EU's standard classification for the subject of public contracts. Every tender published in the EU is tagged with at least one CPV code, so buyers and suppliers speak the same language regardless of country or wording. A CPV code is an 8-digit number plus a check digit, e.g. 45000000-7 (Construction work).

2. How the hierarchy works

CPV is hierarchical — the digits narrow the subject from broad to specific:

  • Divisions (first 2 digits) — e.g. 45 Construction, 72 IT services, 33 Medical equipment.
  • Groups (3 digits), Classes (4 digits), Categories (5 digits) — progressively more specific.
  • Subcategories (full 8 digits) — the most precise level.

For monitoring, the division level (2 digits) is usually the sweet spot: broad enough to catch contracts filed under a neighbouring code, narrow enough to stay relevant.

3. Find the right codes for your business

  1. List what you actually deliver (works, supplies, services).
  2. Map each to its CPV division — a construction firm watches 45 (and often 44 materials, 71 engineering); an IT vendor watches 72 and 48 (software).
  3. Prefer a handful of divisions over dozens of narrow 8-digit codes. Buyers rarely use the exact code you would expect, so over-precise filters miss tenders.

4. Use CPV to filter — not to drown

A good monitoring setup combines CPV with two more filters:

  • CPV division(s) — what you do.
  • Region — where you can deliver.
  • Value — the contract sizes you pursue.

This keeps the flow relevant without hiding atypically categorised opportunities.

5. How Veritra helps

Veritra lets you filter public tenders across the EU by CPV division, region and value, and sends daily alerts for matches — so you monitor exactly the categories that fit your business. Browse live tenders by sector on our public tenders pages, or try Veritra free.