ICV Certifying Bodies in the UAE

In the UAE, there are now 12 Certifying Bodies selected by ADNOC for providing ICV certification-related services. Suppliers need to be knowledgeable regarding the services these Certifying Entities will deliver to them. The specific services provided by ICV Certifying Bodies in the UAE are as follows. 

Reviewing the information provided by prospective suppliers: Suppliers have to fill up information in the yellow shaded area of ICV template as per the requirement of ADNOC or any other ICV program adopters in the UAE. They have to make the source and supporting documents available in case further investigation on the accuracy of the provided information is conducted by the Certifying Bodies. 

When suppliers come up with required information for ICV calculation in Dubai, UAE, Certifying Bodies test whether the information is accurate. They can do it in two ways- crosschecking the information with audited financial statements and looking at the source or supporting documents. 

Reviewing the procedures applied by suppliers in calculating ICV score in Dubai, UAE: ICV in the UAE is instructed to be calculated by a specific format provided by ADNOC. To ensure standardization in ICV score, the formulas that will be used to determine values under each variable have also been specified articulately. 

It is the responsibility of the Certifying Bodies to observe whether the formulas and calculation procedures have been applied correctly by the supplier companies. That is, ICV Certified Bodies will have to make sure that reported In-Country Value scores of the suppliers are correct and fairly representative of suppliers’ factual financial condition. Otherwise, suppliers selected for different government or semi-government tenders will not result in optimum In-Country Value generation in the UAE. 

Issuing ICV certificates in Dubai, UAE: ICV Certifying Bodies’ main responsibility is to provide the applying companies with ICV certificates specifying their ICV score for the last audited financial statements. They only deliver ICV certification that will be used by the suppliers while applying for tender bidding events incurring within the UAE. 

Assisting in the investigation of ADNOC or any other ICV program adopters: ICV Certifying Bodies are bound to respond for further investigation made by the authority that empaneled them such as- ADNOC, IDB etc. Sometimes, these authorities can ask for information to assess the quality and ability of their Certifying Bodies regarding certificate issuing services. For this, they can monitor the processes through which selected Certifying Bodies in the UAE evaluate suppliers’ application. 

The duty of ICV Certifying Bodies in the UAE here is to provide them with sufficient documents and evidence so that they can conduct proper and in detail assessment. Certifying entities are also bound to provide them with information regarding any particular supplier company. 

Renewing the ICV certificates of suppliers: ICV certificates in the UAE can be used by suppliers for 18 months at best after issue date. After that, they have to renew their ICV certificates. They can go to the same Certifying Body or a different one for renewing their certificates. Empaneled Certifying Bodies will perform the same duties for these suppliers that they performed for the new ones. 

Attending meetings with other Certifying Bodies: It is a must for all the certifying bodies to keep their work quality and evaluation process similar so that all of the certificates provided by them reflect the same quality and scoring procedures. That is, they have to deliver aligned certification services. And for this, it falls under the responsibility of these Certifying Bodies in the UAE to attend meetings bi-weekly. 

Recently ADNOC appointed new Certifying Bodies and in total now ADNOC has 12 certifying entities. Most of these Certifying Bodies are multinational entities and the rest of them are local ones. But the question can arise here- Is it rational to include more ICV Certifying Bodies in the UAE’s ICV program. And the answer is “YES”. 

A higher number of Certifying Bodies will make this certification business competitive and thus no Certifying entities will be able to charge a higher price from the suppliers for providing certification services. Lower price asked by these entities will encourage more suppliers to be part of the ICV program in the UAE and ultimately will result in higher inclusion of the private sector in the In-Country Value program.