Who issues it, how long it lasts, how the score is built, and how ADNOC uses it. Checked against the ministry's current guidelines and ADNOC's own pages.
An ICV certificate states how much of your spending and activity stays in the UAE. It is issued by an authorised certifying body through the official ICV Platform, one certificate per legal entity, and it lasts 14 months from the date your audited financial statements are issued. ADNOC does not require one to bid, but higher scores get a competitive edge and ICV documents are expected in commercial bids. It is a weight on the scale, not a gate.
I have sold into ADNOC onshore and offshore, including the £500K Dalma gas package, and closed the £250K Borouge award. Here is how the certificate works, and where the cheap points are.
ADNOC started In Country Value in 2018. In September 2021 the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, MoIAT, took it national, and MoIAT now governs certification. One certificate per legal entity is accepted by every participating entity, but each one decides how it uses the score in its own tenders. So ADNOC's rules are ADNOC's, and another buyer may weigh ICV differently. Read each tender.
MoIAT's formula has two versions. If you hold an industrial licence you are a goods manufacturer. Anyone else, including agents and traders, is a service provider.
Who you buy from feeds your score. MoIAT's guidelines credit a vendor on the UAE mainland at 10% if it has no certificate, and treat every other vendor without a valid certificate as zero. So buying from a certified local supplier counts for more than buying from one without.
Where your suppliers sit matters too. A goods manufacturer in a free zone counts as within the UAE. A service provider in a free zone counts as outside it. Your set up and your supply chain move your score, not just what you sell.
ADNOC says an ICV certificate is not required to take part in its tenders, but suppliers with higher ICV scores get a competitive edge, and ICV documents are expected in commercial bids. ADNOC's own implementation guidelines set out how the score and any improvement commitments are weighed in each tender, so get the current revision from the ADNOC Supplier Hub rather than trusting a figure from a blog. For the registration route itself, read the ADNOC supplier registration guide.
The certificate sits with a legal entity, so a manufacturer with nothing in the UAE has no score of its own to show. In practice your ICV story then runs through your UAE agent or distributor, or through a local entity you set up. Choose that partner on capability first. A good partner with a strong certificate is worth having. A weak partner with a high score is a liability.
ICV does not decide who is allowed to bid. It decides who starts the commercial review with a head start.
Start with the cheap gains. Get certified, because arriving with no certificate hands the points to someone else. Make sure your accounts separate UAE purchases from imports, so the certifier can credit what you already do. Buy from certified local suppliers where the price is fair. Then cost the structural moves honestly. A local assembly or finishing step can lift the score, but price it against the margin it protects, not the points it earns. Stop when the next points cost more than the contract is worth.
I do not certify ICV, and nobody can sell you a score. That is the certifying body's job, from your audited numbers. What I do is the commercial side: which buyers in your pipeline weigh ICV and how, which local partner actually helps, and how to get specified with ADNOC and the EPC contractors before the tender. Read the UAE and ADNOC for the market itself.
A certificate stating a supplier's In Country Value score: how much of its spending and activity stays in the UAE economy. It is issued under the National ICV Programme, governed by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, by authorised certifying bodies through the official ICV Platform.
14 months from the date the audited financial statements are issued, according to MoIAT's September 2025 certification guidelines.
Yes. MoIAT says a certificate is obtained for each legal entity that wants to be certified, and ADNOC confirms one certificate per legal entity is used by all participating entities.
No. ADNOC says an ICV certificate is not required to take part in its tenders, but suppliers with higher scores receive a competitive edge, and ICV documents are expected in commercial bids.
For a goods manufacturer, MoIAT's formula weights manufacturing cost at 50%, investment at 25%, Emiratisation at 15% and expat contribution at 10%, plus an ICV bonus of up to 5% and an advanced technology and sustainability bonus of up to 6%. Service providers use third party spend in place of manufacturing cost, with a sustainability bonus of up to 3%.
MoIAT's guidelines credit a vendor based on the UAE mainland at 10% if it has no certificate, and treat all other vendors without a valid certificate as zero.
Sources: MoIAT, ICV formula · MoIAT, ICV supplier certification guidelines, September 2025 · MoIAT, National ICV Programme · ADNOC Supplier Hub, ICV programme. Checked 12 November 2026. Formulas and rules are updated, so confirm against the current MoIAT guidelines and your buyer's tender documents.
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