How to Improve Your ICV Score in the UAE: A Practical Guide for 2026

The short answer first: your ICV score improves when a larger share of your company's spending, employment and investment stays inside the UAE, and when that contribution is captured accurately in your audited financial statements. The score is not negotiable and it is not discretionary. It is generated from verified financial data using the standard formula issued by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT). That means every improvement comes from one of two places: changing how your business actually operates, or making sure the data submitted for certification reflects the full value you already create locally.

Both matter. In our experience at Cressford Chartered Accountants, many companies lose meaningful points not because their local contribution is weak, but because their records, supplier documentation and workforce data understate it.

This guide explains what drives the ICV score, the practical levers that move it, the mistakes that quietly drag it down, and the timeline to follow if you want a stronger score on your next certificate.

What the ICV Score Actually Measures

The In-Country Value score is a percentage that expresses how much of your company's economic activity is retained within the UAE. It sits at the heart of the National ICV Program, which now covers more than 30 government and semi-government entities including ADNOC, Aldar, Mubadala and ENEC. When these entities evaluate tenders, a supplier's ICV score carries direct commercial weight: between two comparable bids, the higher score wins.

The scale of what is at stake keeps growing. ADNOC alone has committed hundreds of billions of dirhams in capital expenditure through 2030, with a substantial portion explicitly directed back into the UAE economy through the ICV framework. For suppliers and contractors, the score is no longer a compliance formality. It is a pricing and positioning tool.

The score is built from a defined set of components, each with its own weighting in the MoIAT formula:

• Local procurement and third-party spend money spent on goods and services from UAE-based suppliers, weighted by each supplier's own ICV status
• Investment the net book value of assets held inside the UAE, including property, plant and equipment, capital work in progress and, for technology companies, capitalised software development
• Emiratisation the employment and development of UAE nationals, with both headcount and the seniority of roles considered
• Expatriate contribution salaries and benefits paid to expatriate staff based in the UAE, measured as a separate component
• Bonus factors additional credit for items such as revenue from exports of UAE-made goods and services and growth in Emirati headcount

Because the score is system-generated from audited figures, there is no room for presentation or persuasion. The path to a better score runs through the underlying numbers.

Lever 1: Shift Spend to ICV-Certified Local Suppliers

Procurement is where most companies find their fastest gains, because of one mechanical rule in the formula: your suppliers' ICV status flows directly into your own score.

Spending with a supplier that holds a valid ICV certificate is counted at that supplier's certified percentage. Spending with a UAE mainland supplier that has no certificate is automatically counted at a fixed low default. Spending with suppliers outside the UAE contributes nothing at all.

The practical actions that follow from this are straightforward:

1. Map your top suppliers by annual spend. In most companies, ten to twenty vendors account for the large majority of third-party spend. These are the relationships that move your score.
2. Collect and verify ICV certificates from each of them. Check validity dates and confirm the certificate is genuine before relying on it. An expired or unverifiable certificate is treated as no certificate.
3. Where two suppliers offer comparable pricing, prefer the one with the higher ICV score. Over a full financial year, this single procurement habit can lift your score materially without increasing cost.
4. Encourage key uncertified local suppliers to get certified. A long-standing UAE supplier without a certificate is leaving points on the table for both of you. Many will obtain certification once a major customer explains the commercial logic.
5. Review import substitution opportunities. Goods and services currently sourced from abroad contribute zero. Where a credible UAE alternative exists at workable pricing, switching converts dead spend into scoring spend.

Lever 2: Strengthen Emiratisation, Especially in Skilled Roles

Emiratisation is one of the most heavily weighted parts of the formula, and the policy direction is unambiguous: MoIAT has set a target of 10 percent Emirati representation in skilled roles at certified companies by the end of 2026, and the scoring increasingly rewards companies that hire UAE nationals into genuine, developed positions rather than headline headcount.

Companies that treat Emiratisation as a scoring exercise tend to underperform on it. Companies that treat it as workforce planning tend to gain twice, once in the ICV score and again in eligibility for related government incentives. Practical steps include:

• Recruit UAE nationals into roles with real responsibility and progression, and document salaries, training and development spend properly, since these feed the calculation
• Plan hiring against your certification cycle, because an Emirati employee hired late in the financial year contributes far less to that year's score than one employed throughout it
• Retain the Emirati staff you have, as growth in Emirati headcount over time can also attract bonus credit

Lever 3: Invest Inside the UAE and Record It Correctly

The investment component rewards assets held in the country. For manufacturers and contractors this typically means plant, machinery, vehicles and premises. For service and technology businesses, the picture is broader than many realise: office fit-outs, IT infrastructure and capitalised software development within the UAE all count toward the net book value figure the formula uses.

Two points deserve attention here. First, timing: assets acquired and commissioned before your financial year end appear in that year's audited statements and therefore in that year's score. Second, accounting treatment: expenditure that could legitimately be capitalised but is instead written off as an expense disappears from the investment component entirely. This is one of several areas where the quality of your accounting directly changes your ICV outcome, and where advice from a qualified audit and accounting firm pays for itself.

Lever 4: Fix the Data Problems That Quietly Lower Scores

Since 1 January 2025, every ICV certificate must be supported by stand-alone audited financial statements. Management accounts are no longer accepted. This change raised the evidentiary bar across the board, and it means weak bookkeeping now translates directly into a weaker score. The most common data failures we see are:

• Missing supplier certificates. Local spend that should be counted at a supplier's certified rate is counted at the low default because nobody collected the document.
• Unallocated or poorly classified expenditure. Spend that cannot be traced to a UAE supplier in the records is treated as if it were foreign.
• Payroll records that understate local employment cost. Benefits, allowances and training spend that legitimately belong in the workforce components are left out.
• Late preparation. Companies that begin assembling ICV data a few weeks before a tender deadline have no time to correct any of the above, and certify at whatever score the rushed data produces.

MoIAT has also strengthened verification, including random audits of certified companies. Overstated data is not a risk worth taking: misrepresentation can lead to certificate revocation and exclusion from government procurement. The goal is a score that is both maximised and fully defensible.

How Long Does It Take to Improve an ICV Score?

Because the certificate is issued against a full financial year and remains valid for 14 months from the date of the audited financial statements, ICV improvement is a planning exercise, not a last-minute one. A realistic timeline looks like this:

1. Now: obtain a baseline. Calculate your current score using the MoIAT template and identify which components are underperforming.
2. During the financial year: execute the procurement, hiring and investment decisions described above, and collect supplier certificates as you go rather than at year end.
3. At year end: complete the audit with a firm that understands the ICV template, so that every eligible dirham of local contribution is captured and correctly classified.
4. At certification: submit through a MoIAT-authorised certifying body with a complete, consistent documentation pack, avoiding the queries and downward adjustments that incomplete submissions attract.

Companies that run this cycle deliberately typically see their score climb year on year. Companies that only think about ICV when a tender demands it typically certify below their true potential.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a minimum ICV score required to get certified?
No. There is no minimum threshold to obtain a certificate. A low score simply weakens your position in tender evaluations, which is why improvement matters even for companies that are already certified.

Do free zone companies need to worry about ICV?
Yes. The program applies to any entity supplying participating organisations, whether directly or through the supply chain, with no exemption for free zone companies.

Can a service company with no factory achieve a strong score?
Yes. Service businesses score primarily through Emiratisation, expatriate contribution, local supplier spend and UAE-based assets such as offices and technology. The levers are different from a manufacturer's, but they are just as real.

How often can the score be updated?
The certificate reflects a completed audited financial year and is valid for 14 months from the financial statement date. Improvements you make now appear in the certificate issued on your next set of audited statements, which is exactly why early planning is the single biggest factor in a better score.

How Cressford Chartered Accountants Helps Companies Raise Their ICV Score

Cressford Chartered Accountants supports UAE companies across the full ICV cycle, from baseline assessment through audit and certification. Because the score is generated from audited financial data, the audit stage is where a knowledgeable firm makes the difference between a score that reflects your true local contribution and one that understates it.

Our ICV certification support includes:

• Baseline ICV score assessment and gap analysis against the MoIAT formula
• Procurement review, supplier certificate collection and vendor ICV verification
• Guidance on Emiratisation, investment and capitalisation decisions that affect the score
• Preparation of stand-alone audited financial statements aligned with the ICV template
• Support through the certifying body submission, with a complete and consistent documentation pack
• Year-on-year improvement planning so each certificate is stronger than the last

If your next tender depends on a competitive ICV score, the time to act is before your financial year closes, not after. Speak to Cressford Chartered Accountants for a clear assessment of where your score stands today and what will move it.

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