Common procurement vocabulary

KEY POINTS

• The regulation establishes a single classification system: the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV). This classification endeavours to cover the characteristics for supplies, works and services contracts. By standardising the references used by contracting authorities to describe the subject matter of their contracts, the use of CPV improves the transparency of public procurement covered by the EU directives.
• Use of CPV makes it easier for potential contractors, such as companies, to find business opportunities, and reduces the risk of error in translating notices, since the CPV is available in all the EU’s official languages.
• The CPV attaches to each numerical code a description of the subject of the contract, for which there is a version in each of the official languages of the EU. The CPV consists of:
  • a main vocabulary, based on a tree structure, containing a series of numerical codes comprising eight digits and a ninth digit which serves to verify the previous digits;
  • a supplementary vocabulary expanding the description of the subject of a contract by adding further details regarding the nature or destination of the object of the contract.
• The list of CPV codes and the tables of correspondence between the CPV and other nomenclatures can be consulted on the Internet site: SIMAP ‘Information about European public procurement’.
• The current CPV was designed to be more user-friendly by focusing less on materials and more on products. In addition, the CPV’s hierarchy was rationalised.
• The TED website ensures that notices of public tenders subject to EU directives are published in the Official Journal ‘S’ series. Since 2003, TED has used the CPV codes which became compulsory with the adoption of the Directives 2004/17/EC) and 2004/18/EC (subsequently repealed respectively by Directives 2014/25/EU and 2014/24/EU).