ICV Certification in the UAE
The ICV Certificate or the Adnoc In Country Value Certificate is one of the many initiatives taken by the UAE government that has significantly boosted the economic growth in the country. The UAE is known for making active efforts to continually improve the region’s business environment. The ICV program is a collection of conditions that ADNOC registered suppliers have to comply with in order to start or continue to work with ADNOC. All the existing as well as new suppliers have to get themselves ICV certified by one of the ICV Certifying Bodies. After the certification, supplier get access to a variety of business opportunities. The biggest impact of the ICV Certificate is its weightage in the tender evaluations. Suppliers having this certification will have an edge in the selection process.
ICV Certificate Meaning
What is ICV Certificate? This certificate is awarded to ADNOC suppliers after they pass a set evaluation. It is part of the Unified ICV Program that was introduced to stimulate the local supplier market. The evaluation is carried out by empaneled Adnoc ICV certification agencies. These bodies verify a supplier’s financial records to determine whether they are complying with the set conditions or not.
The ADNOC ICV Certificate was initiated in order to boost ADNOC’s participation in the development of local suppliers. The certificate gauges how suppliers have made contributions to improving In-Country Value. Their contribution is calculated in the form of an ICV score. The main focus of ICV Certificate ADNOC is to encourage suppliers to:
- Focus on enhancing their in-country value creation through their business practices
- Invest in business development and skill enhancement
This certification acts as an incentive for suppliers who make an active effort to invest in development and sustainability. The end goal of the ICV Program is to boost human capital development, technology adoption, and GDP growth.
Once the certificate has been issued to a supplier, it remains valid for 18 months. During the valid period, whenever suppliers participate in ADNOC’s group tenders, their bid evaluation will include their ICV score. Suppliers who aren’t Certified can participate as well. However, their ICV score will be counted as zero, leaving them at a disadvantage.
Entities other than ADNOC have also implemented this. However, each entity has its own policies of implementation.
ICV Certificate Sample
The ICV Certificate is, as its name suggests, a certification. It is a form of acknowledgment that states that an entity submitted its records to one of the empaneled ICV certification bodies in UAE. And the body checked their records and verified that the entity has met In-Country Value requirements in their previous financial year.
Have a look at the below ICV certificate sample:
The certification contains information about the company to which it was granted. Also, it has a section called “In-Country Value Details” in which the recipient’s total ICV score is broken down.
The ICV score is calculated with the following formulae:
How to Get ICV Certificate in UAE?
Ever since the ICV program has been announced, a lot of business owners have been googling “how can I get ICV certificate in UAE?”. Fortunately, the ICV certification process for the ICV program is relatively simple.
- Companies need to produce IFRS based financial statements of their business activities. These statements must be audited by an auditor who has been licensed by the Ministry of Economy. The financial statements shouldn’t be older than 2 years from the date of the certification request. Companies that are less than 10 months old and haven’t undergone a financial audit yet can use their management accounts as an alternative. Bear in mind that if the management accounts documents are older than 9 months, the company will have to undergo an audit.
- After your documents are in order, you can fill the ICV Submission Template according to the guidelines provided by ADNOC over here.
- Once you have correctly filled the submission form, appoint any of the ICV certification companies in UAE for the verification and audit. The certifying company must be appointed from the Adnoc ICV certification agencies list.
- The certified body will analyze your records and calculate your score based on the given criteria. You will then receive your certificate with your total score written on it.