United Kingdom · CPV · Contracts Finder filters
CPV codes for cleaning, facilities and trades on Contracts Finder
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes appear on every Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notice — but buyers assign them inconsistently. This guide gives facilities, cleaning and trades SMEs a practical CPV map for filter setup. CPVs are secondary to value bands and keywords. BidFit does not write bids.
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What CPV codes are (and why SMEs care)
CPV codes are an EU/UK standard list classifying what is being bought. On Contracts Finder you can filter saved searches by CPV family. That sounds precise. In practice, a window-cleaning lot may sit under building-cleaning CPVs one week and a wider “facilities” code the next — because the buyer’s procurement team picked from a dropdown, not because the work changed.
For a cleaning or soft FM SME watching roughly £10k–£250k lots, CPV literacy helps you:
- Build saved searches that catch your trade without drowning in hospital hard FM.
- Spot miscoded lots your keyword search missed.
- Stop widening CPV filters until alert mail becomes unusable.
CPV codes do not replace reading the notice title, buyer, location, and value. For the full filter workflow, see Soft FM Contracts Finder filters.
Filter order: value → keywords → CPV
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Value band first. Set a maximum you can staff and insure, and a floor that drops trivial call-offs. Many SMEs start around £10k–£250k on Contracts Finder.
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Short keyword list. Named searches for “window cleaning”, “grounds maintenance”, “reactive maintenance” — not one OR-ed mega-search. See the sibling filters guide.
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CPV families last. Add two or three CPV divisions that match your trade. Run one week of mail. Delete CPVs that only add noise.
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Weekly review. Unsubscribe from alerts that never match trade, region, or value. Silence is a feature.
CPV families for cleaning and hygiene
Division 909 covers cleaning services. These are the codes SMEs most often need — pick what matches your actual work, not every sub-code “just in case”.
| CPV code | Label (summary) | Typical lots | False-hit risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90910000 | Cleaning services | General cleaning tenders, some school and office contracts | Broad — pulls specialist clinical and industrial cleaning you may not deliver |
| 90911000 | Accommodation and building cleaning services | Office, public building, housing communal cleaning | May include large multi-site FM bundles |
| 90911200 | Building-cleaning services | Internal/external building cleaning, some façade work | Overlaps with wider FM packages |
| 90911300 | Window-cleaning services | Window and façade cleaning, rope access sometimes miscoded here | Hospital or high-rise specialist lots — read title |
| 90919000 | Office, school and office equipment cleaning services | Office cleaning, some educational estates | Equipment cleaning ≠ office cleaning in buyer wording — check scope |
| 90922000 | Industrial cleaning services | Factory, plant, industrial decontamination | High specialist bar — often wrong trade for SME window/soft FM firms |
CPV families for facilities management and grounds
Soft FM and integrated facilities lots often sit outside division 909. Division 799 (business services) and division 773 (landscaping) appear frequently.
| CPV code | Label (summary) | Typical lots | False-hit risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 79993000 | Building and facilities management services | Multi-service FM, some cleaning-inclusive bundles | Large national FM — check value and SME flag |
| 79993100 | Facilities management services | Soft FM, helpdesk, planned maintenance packages | Hard FM and M&E may be bundled — read description |
| 79994000 | Contract administration services | Some buyers miscode FM admin here | Often consultancy, not operatives — verify trade fit |
| 77310000 | Planting and maintenance services of green areas | Grounds maintenance, parks, housing estates | Arboriculture and major landscaping may need different kit |
| 77314000 | Grounds maintenance services | Council and housing grounds contracts | Seasonal vs year-round — check notice |
| 50700000 | Repair and maintenance services of building installations | Reactive trades, minor building maintenance | Electrical/gas works need accreditations — early Fail gate |
Trades and reactive maintenance CPVs
Single-trade reactive lots scatter across divisions 45 (construction), 50 (repair), and 51 (installation). A plumber’s alert on “50700000” alone will miss half the market and catch hospital M&E the next week.
- Prefer keyword + value saved searches for reactive trades (“reactive maintenance”, “planned maintenance”, “responsive repairs”).
- Add CPV 50700000 or 50000000 (repair services) only after you have measured one week’s false-hit rate.
- Always Fail early on stated accreditations (Gas Safe, NICEIC, CFA, etc.) — CPV will not warn you.
Trade-specific sector context: facilities, cleaning and trades · window cleaning.
How to set CPV filters on Contracts Finder
On Contracts Finder, when you create or edit a saved search:
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Name the search after its filter set — e.g. “East Mids · 909113 · window · under £100k” — not “cleaning hope”.
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Enter CPV at division or group level if the portal allows (90900000 for all cleaning, 79993000 for FM). Avoid stacking ten unrelated divisions in one alert.
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Combine with keywords in the search text field where available — CPV + “window cleaning” beats CPV alone.
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Limit region to where you can cover. National CPV alerts for a two-van firm are alert spam.
For Find a Tender, mirror the same discipline. Higher-value lots may use different CPV habits — see Contracts Finder + Find a Tender alerts without six tabs.
When CPV misleads — read the title
Three recurring traps for cleaning and soft FM SMEs:
- “Cleaning” title, FM scope. CPV 90911200 on a lot that includes M&E, security, and catering — Fail on trade fit unless you deliver integrated FM.
- Framework call-off CPVs. Same CPV as open tenders but wording says “framework suppliers only”. See framework call-offs vs open tenders.
- Wrong division, right work. A grounds contract coded under 77314000 may not appear in your 909 search — another reason keywords stay primary.
On bid/no-bid memos we mark trade fit from title, description, and CPV together — not CPV alone. See bid/no-bid decision checklist.
Where BidFit’s digest sits
BidFit is a profile-matched email, not a CPV dashboard. You tell us trade and region once; we watch public notices on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender and send a short list — free weekly (up to three matches) or £19/month daily. Signup: /digest/. Product page: free UK tender digest.
Keep official CPV saved searches as source of truth. Use BidFit when you want one Monday email shortened to “plausible for us”, not a searchable archive of every CPV division.
What BidFit is not
- Not bid writing. We do not draft responses, complete SQs, or register you on buyer portals.
- Not a search engine. No dashboard of every notice by CPV and no “AI tender search”.
- Not a CPV consultancy. This guide is filter literacy; official CPV reference remains the published vocabulary list.
Questions
What CPV code is used for cleaning contracts on Contracts Finder?
There is no single CPV for all cleaning. Common families include 90910000 (Cleaning services), 90911000 (Accommodation and building cleaning), 90911200 (Building-cleaning services), and 90911300 (Window-cleaning services). Buyers code inconsistently — use keywords and value bands as primary filters, CPVs as secondary.
Should I filter Contracts Finder by CPV only?
No. CPV-only filters miss miscoded lots and pull false hits from adjacent trades. Set value band and a short keyword list first, then add CPV families that match your trade. Review one week of alert mail and roll back CPVs that only add noise.
What CPV codes cover facilities management?
Soft FM and facilities management lots often sit under 79993000 (Building and facilities management services), 79993100 (Facilities management services), 79994000 (Contract administration), or broader 79990000 (Miscellaneous business-related services). Large integrated FM packages may use different codes — always read the notice title.
Does BidFit search by CPV?
BidFit matches a profile you give us (trade and region) against public notices on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender. It is not a CPV dashboard or search engine. Keep official portal saved searches as source of truth.
More guides
All BidFit guides: /guides/. Full filter workflow: Soft FM Contracts Finder filters. Portal alerts: Contracts Finder + Find a Tender alerts. Social value wording: social value on tender notices. Notice triage: read a notice in ten minutes.
Filters done — want the short weekly list?
Keep official saved searches. Use BidFit when you want one email matched to trade and region instead of CPV noise.