Common Procurement Vocabulary

Definition

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) is the European statistical classification of goods, services and works procured by the public sector. It is established by law. The CPV consists of a Main Vocabulary and a Supplementary Vocabulary, both available in 22 official EU languages.

Objective

In order to make Public Procurement more transparent and efficient across the European Union, in 1993 the European Commission drafted the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV). Towards an effective EU Single Market, the Commission aimed to encourage suppliers and contracting authorities/entities to adopt best practices and use electronic communication and information technologies to provide all the relevant information, so as to ensure best value for money in public procurement.

Approach

The standardization aim of the CPV is achieved by means of a single classification system for public procurement. The terms used by the contracting authorities and entities to describe the subject of contracts are drawn from a vocabulary delivered as the CPV Classification, a hierarchical taxonomy that consists of about 9454 terms, listing goods, works and services commonly used in public Procurement.

In principle, the CPV system helps to meet different functions:

• The assignation of a CPV code seeks to increase transparency of contract opportunities and, thus, to favour competition in procurement procedures and the pursuit of better value for money.
• The system introduces no obligations, requirements or restrictions, but simply provides economic operators with a common, unified and multilingual reference.
• Avoiding language barriers by having the CPV translated into all official EU languages (thus reducing the risk of errors in the translation of notices).
• The succinct identification of the object of contracts on the basis of the work, supply or service to be provided, enables economic operators to more rapidly and easily identify those tender procedures in which they wish to participate, which may be particularly relevant for SMEs and for encouraging cross-border tenders.

See Also

• ISCO Classification
• NACE Classification

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