UNSPSC Categories

UNSPSC (United Nations Standard Products and Services Code) is the classification system Canadian procurement portals use to categorize goods and services. In Cothon, you select your UNSPSC categories through the Procurement Industries picker on the Basic Info tab of your company profile.

Where the Picker Lives

Open your company profile, go to Basic Info, and scroll to Procurement Industries. The picker shows top-level categories; click the arrow beside a category to expand its subcategories.

• Select every category and subcategory that matches what you sell or deliver.
• Selections are a flat multi-select — there is no primary/secondary distinction; every selection carries equal weight.
• Click Save Basic Info to store your choices.

What Your Selections Do

Tender relevance scoring

Government tenders carry UNSPSC codes. Cothon compares the codes on incoming tenders against your selections (alongside your capability profile) to score how relevant each opportunity is to you. Good selections mean the tenders that matter to you rank higher.

Filtering the Capabilities tab

The Capabilities tab shows industry-specific capability blocks (IT & Telecommunications, Construction & Infrastructure, Office Products & Business Supplies, and many others). Which blocks appear is driven by your UNSPSC selections — for example, selecting office-supply categories surfaces the goods-supply and distribution blocks.

Choosing Categories Well

Be honest about scope. Select categories where you genuinely bid and deliver. Selecting everything dilutes relevance scoring and clutters your capability picker.

Use the subcategories. Expanding a category and selecting specific subcategories gives the matcher more precise signals than a broad top-level selection alone.

Cover goods and services separately. If you both supply products and deliver services (for instance, an IT reseller that also does managed services), select categories for both sides of the business.

Revisit periodically. As your business enters new markets, update your selections so new tender types start scoring as relevant.

How This Differs From NAICS

Basic Info also asks for NAICS codes, which classify your industry for identification purposes. UNSPSC categories are the ones used for tender matching — make sure the Procurement Industries picker is filled in even if you have entered NAICS codes.