ADNOC ICV Certificate Explained — Supplier Guide

If you sell to ADNOC, or intend to, the ICV certificate is one document you cannot ignore. This guide explains what In-Country Value actually measures, how the score is built and how to raise it.

ICV Full Form and Concept

ICV stands for In-Country Value. It measures the portion of a contract's value that stays inside the UAE economy rather than leaking abroad through imported goods and services. Value counts as in-country when it creates local manufacturing, jobs and training for Emiratis, investment in UAE facilities, or research and development activity onshore.

The concept reframes procurement. Instead of judging a supplier on price and technical compliance alone, buyers also consider how much economic value each dirham of spend retains locally. In a country where imported content can dominate project cost, ICV gives buyers a consistent, auditable way to compare suppliers on their national value contribution. For suppliers, that makes the score a commercial asset, actively managed like any quality accreditation, because a higher score can decide which bid wins when prices are close.

From ADNOC Programme to National Framework

The programme began inside ADNOC, which launched ICV in 2018 to strengthen the local supply chain around its oil, gas and petrochemical operations. The logic was straightforward: ADNOC's procurement spend is enormous, and steering more of it towards UAE manufacturing, Emirati employment and local investment would accelerate economic diversification.

The approach worked well enough to be adopted nationally. In 2021 the scheme was unified under the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, MoIAT, which now administers the framework and authorises the certifying bodies that issue certificates. Since unification, government and semi-government entities across the Emirates have adopted ICV in their procurement processes, with ADNOC remaining the programme's flagship user.

How the ICV Score Is Calculated

An ICV score is a percentage, calculated from weighted components that reflect how much value your business retains in the UAE. The heaviest weighting areas cover local manufacturing and local sourcing: goods produced in UAE factories and spend directed towards UAE suppliers both lift the score. Emiratisation counts strongly as well, covering both the employment of Emirati staff and investment in their training.

Capital expenditure on UAE facilities and assets earns credit at a medium weighting, as does local research and development spend. Third-party spend works differently: value you pass on to ICV-certified vendors flows through to your own score, so your supplier choices matter as much as your own operations. The table below summarises the components.

Who Needs an ICV Certificate

Any company tendering to ADNOC, its group companies, or other entities that have adopted the framework will encounter ICV requirements, typically above defined contract-value thresholds. For most ADNOC tenders, a valid certificate is a prequalification condition: without it, a bid is unlikely to pass technical evaluation regardless of price.

The requirement reaches deep into the supply chain, because prime contractors are encouraged, and often required, to cascade ICV expectations onto their own subcontractors. Service providers are covered as well as traders and manufacturers, including inspection, training and engineering firms; our guide to ADNOC HSE approval and vendor registration explains how ICV sits alongside the other registration steps. Even companies below the threshold increasingly certify voluntarily, because a score on file speeds up future tenders and signals commitment to the UAE market.

The Certification Process Step by Step

Certification follows a defined sequence. First, engage a certifying body authorised by MoIAT; only authorised bodies can issue valid certificates. Second, assemble your evidence: audited financial statements, Emiratisation records, local spend data and documentation of investments and research activity. Third, the certifying body performs a desk review of your submission, checking that figures trace to audited accounts and supporting documents. Fourth, the certificate is issued showing your ICV score and its validity period.

The process is documentary rather than an on-site audit in most cases, but the quality of your evidence pack determines how smoothly it runs. Fees are set by the certifying body and vary with company size and complexity, so request quotations directly before engaging. Companies preparing for their first certification should start with clean, reconciled financials, because chasing missing supplier invoices or payroll records mid-review is the most common cause of delay.

Validity, Refresh and Recalculation Rules

An ICV certificate is valid for a defined period aligned with the financial data it is built on. When that period ends, or when your audited financials change significantly, the certificate must be refreshed through your certifying body so tender submissions always carry a current score. Certain events trigger re-issue earlier, such as a change of legal structure or a materially different financial year.

Because tenders can appear at short notice, experienced suppliers track the expiry date alongside their other ADNOC credentials; our ADNOC certificate validity guide covers the renewal timelines worth diarising. Building the refresh into your annual finance calendar avoids the last-minute scramble that tender deadlines create, and a lapsed certificate effectively removes you from prequalification until it is restored.

How ADNOC Uses ICV in Tender Evaluation

ICV is scored as part of the tender, not printed and filed. During prequalification, the certificate confirms you meet the local-content requirement. During bid evaluation, the score feeds into the commercial assessment alongside price, sitting with technical scoring in the overall award decision.

The practical consequence is that a higher ICV score can offset a slightly higher price, because the buyer is measuring total value retained in the UAE economy, not just the invoice total. Suppliers should also confirm exactly what ADNOC approved means for their category before bidding, since approval types and ICV thresholds differ between entities and packages; our guide to ADNOC approval types and verification steps explains the checks buyers run.

Practical Ways to Improve Your ICV Score

Improvement is usually incremental and structural rather than cosmetic. Shift sourcing towards UAE manufacturers and service providers, and where possible towards vendors that are themselves ICV certified, since that spend passes value through to your score. Recruit and train Emirati staff, and document the training properly. Direct capital investment towards UAE facilities and equipment, and record genuine local research activity with defensible documentation.

Reviewing your subcontractor base periodically is one of the fastest levers, because replacing uncertified offshore vendors with certified local ones improves the score without changing what you do; our checklist for choosing an ADNOC-approved TPI illustrates how to vet certified partners. The inspection sector follows this logic too: providers such as Quality International Certifications, an EIAC-accredited UAE body operating since 1998, maintain their own ICV certification as ADNOC-registered suppliers.

Documents and Evidence Checklist for Certification

Preparation separates a smooth certification from a stalled one. Before approaching a certifying body, gather at least the following:

• Audited financial statements for the relevant period
• Payroll and HR records evidencing Emirati employment
• Training records for Emirati employees
• Supplier lists split between UAE and overseas spend
• Invoices supporting local manufacturing and sourcing claims
• Proof of capital investment in UAE facilities and assets
• Documentation of local research and development activity

Organised evidence shortens the desk review and protects your score, because amounts that cannot be verified are excluded from the calculation.

What is the ADNOC 10 certificate?

There is no ADNOC certificate numbered 10. The phrasing usually comes from level confusion — ADNOC training certificates run Level 1 and Level 2 (H2S being the common example) — or from ICV conversations where a supplier refers to targeting 'a 10', meaning an ICV score around 10 percent. Identify which of the two you meant and the matching certificate rules are one click away on this page.

Is an ICV certificate the same as ADNOC approval?

No. The ICV certificate proves your certified In-Country Value score — a percentage used in tender evaluation. ADNOC approval (vendor registration) is the separate act of being accepted into ADNOC's supplier system for a defined scope. Many suppliers hold both: registration gets you through the door, the ICV score influences how the tender itself is scored.

Related Guides

• ADNOC HSE Approval & Vendor Registration
• Choosing an ADNOC Approved TPI
• ADNOC Approved Meaning & Verification
• ADNOC Certificate Validity & Renewal
• ADNOC HSE-PQ Personnel Qualifications