TenderCodes .eu

Guide

How to Find the Right CPV Code for Software Projects

Babar Al-Amin
builder of TenderCodes & founder of BrotCode UG
Last reviewed 2026-06-13

How to Find the Right CPV Code for Software Projects

One question decides your CPV code for almost any software contract: are you buying a finished product, or are you paying someone to do work? Get that split right and the rest of the search is short. Get it wrong and your notice lands under a code where the wrong suppliers are watching. Products live in the 48xxxxxx software-package family. Work (custom builds, consultancy, support, hosting) lives in 72xxxxxx IT services. That single fork is the heart of this guide.

It also runs against the grain of how most people search. Software feels like a product, so the instinct is to reach for a 48xxxxxx code. The procurement record says the opposite. Across our copy of the TED award archive (2009 onward), the 72xxxxxx services branch carries 167,794 awards against 74,043 for the whole 48xxxxxx software branch. Most public software money is spent on work, not licences.

If you would rather skip the reading, the on-site find your code tool takes a plain-English project description and ranks candidate codes. This guide is for when you want to understand the decision well enough to defend it.

The core question: a ready-made product, or commissioned work?

Start here, before you look at a single code number.

A 48xxxxxx code is correct when the deliverable is software that already exists. You are buying licences, a packaged product, or a configured-and-deployed system that the supplier sells off a shelf. The supplier's effort is in installation and setup, not in inventing the software. "We need a content management system; here are three products we will accept" is a product purchase.

A 72xxxxxx code is correct when the deliverable is effort. Someone writes code to your specification, plans your systems, tests them, hosts them, or keeps them running. The thing you receive did not exist in that form before the contract. "We need a portal built to these requirements" is commissioned work, even though the result is also software.

The line gets blurry in three common spots, and the procurement record shows it.

Bundled buys. A contract that licenses a product and commissions heavy configuration sits on the fence. The rule the TED vocabulary follows: code to the main object of the contract. If 80 percent of the value is the licence, it is a product. If 80 percent is the build, it is a service. When it is a genuine 50/50, the main-object test still forces one primary code, and you list the other as an additional CPV code.

Subscription and hosted software. Software-as-a-service trips people up because nothing ships. You are not buying a licence to install; you are buying access to something the supplier operates for you. That is a service. There is no official EU rule that pins SaaS to one code, but the best-fit reading is usually World wide web site operation host services or Application service providers rather than a 48xxxxxx package code.

Custom versus configured. Configuring a product someone else built is part of the product purchase. Building software to your specification is a service. The same finished screen can be either, depending on who designed it.

One opinion, stated plainly: most contracting authorities over-use 48xxxxxx codes because the word "software" pulls them there. If you are not handing over money for a licence or a finished package, you are almost certainly in 72xxxxxx, and that is where the suppliers who can do your work are actually looking.

The 48xxxxxx software-package families

The product branch is organised by what the software does. Here are the 45 product codes this guide documents, grouped the way procurement officers actually reach for them.

Operating systems, utilities, and platform software

This is system-level software: the layer other software runs on, plus the tools that keep it healthy.

Business and back-office applications

The largest practical group. Software that runs an organisation's day-to-day administration.

Data, databases, and information management

Where the software's job is to store, secure, or move data.

Servers and communication software

The serving layer, plus messaging.

Sector-specific software: medical, transport, education

Software written for one industry's workflow. These are where the wrong code does the most damage, because a generic search misses them entirely.

That is the full product branch. If your deliverable is a licence or a packaged system in one of these areas, your code is here. If it is anything else, read on.

When it is really a 72xxxxxx service instead

Most software contracts are not product purchases. They are work, and work is the 72xxxxxx branch. Three families cover almost everything.

Custom development. If a supplier writes software to your specification, you are commissioning development. The general code is Software development services, with Programming services of application software and Programming services of systems and user software sitting beside it. For bespoke transaction or one-off builds, Development of transaction processing and custom software is the precise fit. The 72.2122xx range mirrors the product codes one-for-one, so a contract to build a medical package is Medical software development services, not the 48180000 product code, and a custom education build is Educational software development services.

Consultancy and planning. If you are paying for advice, architecture, or a plan rather than working software, you are in the consultancy codes. Information systems or technology planning services and System implementation planning services cover the planning side; Systems consultancy services and Software testing cover review and quality work.

Support, maintenance, and hosting. Software that already runs needs people to keep it running. Software support services, Software maintenance and repair services, and Software consultancy services cover the support tail. For hosted and operated software, World wide web site operation host services and World wide web site design services are the web-facing fits.

A few more siblings that the product codes shadow directly: a packaged suite versus Software development services suites, a BI product versus Business intelligence software development services, packaged security software versus Data security software development services, and a content management product versus Content management software development services. Same subject, opposite side of the product/work line.

Here is the internal record on that split, because it settles the argument. For document management, the packaged Document management system product code carries 309 awards in our archive, while the matching service code Document management services carries 735. For business intelligence, the product code shows 100 awards against 416 under Data analysis services. The service side is consistently two to four times larger. When in doubt, the odds favour 72xxxxxx.

A decision walkthrough using real confused-code pairs

The drafts behind our documented code pages each carry a "commonly confused with" list. Three of those pairs show the product-versus-service decision in miniature.

Web server: product or build? A contract for Web server software package is the packaged web-serving product bought by the licence. The moment the supplier is writing the web-serving layer to your spec, it flips to Web server software development services. The draft for 48222000 states the test directly: reserve the product code for buying a ready-made web server by the licence, and use development services when new software is built to order. The archive backs the pattern. 48222000 has 71 awards; the development-service sibling has 95.

Document management: which system, and is it run for you? Three codes cluster here. Document management system is the configured, deployed product the authority runs itself. Document management software development services is a bespoke build. Document management services is the whole thing run as an outsourced service. The decision tree: do you own and run it (48311100), have it built (72212311), or hand the entire function to a supplier (72512000)? Three different codes, three different supplier pools.

Medical software: the device trap. Medical software package is the packaged healthcare software product. Its draft flags two neighbours people pick by mistake. CPV 33190000 ("miscellaneous medical devices and products") and the wider medical-equipment family it sits in cover physical hardware, so if you are buying a device with embedded software, that is a device code, not 48180000. And Software development services is the right code when the healthcare software is a bespoke build rather than a configured product. The medical example is the clearest case in the set: 48180000 carries 1,437 product awards, while 72262000 (general development) carries 3,777. Even in a packaged-software-heavy field, more money flows to the build than to the box.

The pattern under all three: name the deliverable in one sentence without using the word "software." A licence to install. A system built to spec. A function run for us by someone else. Whichever sentence is true points at the branch, and the branch points at the code.

Using the on-site tools

You do not have to hold over 9,000 CPV codes in your head. Two tools on the site do the legwork.

Find your code takes a plain-English description and returns ranked candidates. Describe the deliverable, not the technology. "Licences for a packaged patient-administration system, installed by the supplier" returns better matches than "hospital app." Concrete beats buzzwords. If it returns no strong match, add detail about who builds the software and who runs it, because that is exactly the product-versus-service signal the ranking leans on.

Browse walks the CPV tree by hand. Open division 48 to see the whole software-package family in one place, or division 72 for IT services. Browsing is the better tool when you already know the neighbourhood and want to compare siblings, the way the three document-management codes above sit next to each other in the tree.

Once you have a candidate, open its page. The documented pages carry a plain-English summary, the official scope, and a "commonly confused with" list that is the fastest way to check you have not landed one code off. For the wider picture, the complete guide to EU IT tenders sets the context, the CPV 72000000 services guide covers the services branch in depth, and the common CPV code mistakes guide collects the errors that recur most.

What is the CPV code for software?

There is no single one. Packaged software products live under the 48xxxxxx family (for example IT software package for general office software). Custom development and software work live under 72xxxxxx (for example Software development services). Pick the branch by deliverable: licence and product means 48xxxxxx, commissioned work means 72xxxxxx.

What is the difference between a software product and a software service CPV code?

A 48xxxxxx code describes software that already exists and is bought as a licence or packaged system. A 72xxxxxx code describes the work of building, planning, testing, hosting, or maintaining software. The same finished screen can be either code depending on whether you bought a product or commissioned the work.

How do I find the CPV code for a custom-built application?

Custom builds are services. Start at Software development services or Programming services of application software. If the application is sector-specific, the 72.2122xx range has a matching development code, such as Medical software development services. Do not use a 48xxxxxx product code for work done to your specification.

Which CPV code covers software-as-a-service or cloud subscriptions?

SaaS is a service, not a licence purchase, because the supplier operates the software for you. The usual fits are Application service providers and World wide web site operation host services. A 48xxxxxx package code does not describe access to software someone else runs.

My contract bundles a licence and a custom build. Which code wins?

Code to the main object of the contract. Whichever part carries the larger share of value sets the primary code; the smaller part becomes an additional CPV code on the notice. A genuine split still forces one primary, so use the value test to break the tie.

Where do I check that I picked the right code?

Open the candidate's page on the site and read its "commonly confused with" list. That list is built to catch the exact one-code-off errors this guide describes. The common CPV code mistakes guide collects the recurring ones in one place.

A note from the author

I am Babar, I build TenderCodes, and I run BrotCode UG, a small Berlin Rails consultancy. I have bid on EU public IT contracts, which is the short version of why this site exists and why this guide spends so long on one fork in the road. The product-versus-service split is the single mistake I have watched cost the most, on both sides of the notice. More on the site and how its pages are written is on the about page. You can find me on LinkedIn and BrotCode on LinkedIn too.

The internal figures here come from our copy of the TED award archive (notices from 2009 onward, 74,043 awards across the 48xxxxxx software branch and 167,794 across 72xxxxxx IT services). Award counts for individual codes are exact counts from that archive. I have not cited external market-size figures because I would not be able to source them to a specific public dataset without checking, and a guessed citation is worse than none.

Picked a code and want to know when work shows up under it? Follow any documented code page to get an alert the next time a matching notice is published.