If you manufacture in the UAE and supply to government entities, ADNOC, EDGE Group, DEWA, or any quasi-government buyer, the In-Country Value (ICV) programme directly affects your ability to win contracts. Understanding ICV — and ensuring your own supply chain is ICV-compliant — is increasingly a commercial necessity, not just a regulatory checkbox.

What Is ICV?

The ICV Programme is a UAE government initiative to increase the proportion of spending that stays within the UAE economy. When a government or quasi-government entity procures goods or services, ICV scoring measures how much of that procurement value comes from UAE-based suppliers, UAE-manufactured goods, UAE workforce, or UAE-owned entities.

Suppliers must obtain an ICV Certificate (issued by UAE-accredited certifiers against MoIAT standards) that quantifies their ICV score as a percentage. A higher ICV score signals more economic value created in-country.

Who Mandates ICV?

ICV requirements are embedded in tenders and procurement frameworks across:

• ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) — one of the largest ICV mandators; Tier-1 and Tier-2 contractors must hold ICV certificates
• EDGE Group — defence, aerospace, and advanced technology; ICV is a mandatory scoring criterion
• DEWA (Dubai Electricity & Water Authority) — utilities procurement
• Strata (Mubadala) — aerospace manufacturing in Al Ain
• Various federal ministries and Abu Dhabi government entities under Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) oversight

How ICV Scores Are Calculated

The ICV Certificate quantifies value across several weighted categories. While the exact formula is administered by MoIAT-accredited certifiers, the main contributing factors are:

Why Your Tooling Supplier Matters for ICV

Tooling spend — cutting inserts, end mills, measuring instruments, adhesives, NDT equipment — forms a meaningful line item in most manufacturer cost structures. Where you source that tooling directly affects your ICV score under the “local goods and services” category:

• Buying from an overseas-direct mail order supplier (shipping from Germany, Japan, or the US): this spend does NOT contribute to your ICV score.
• Buying from a UAE-registered, UAE-trading distributor with local stock: this spend IS captured as local procurement and improves your ICV position.

For manufacturers with significant annual tooling spend, shifting sourcing from overseas-direct to UAE-stocked local suppliers can meaningfully improve your ICV Certificate score at renewal.

ICV and MIITE 2026

The Make it in the Emirates (MIITE) initiative — the UAE government’s AED 180 billion industrial procurement programme — runs alongside the ICV framework. MIITE 2026 targets 12 priority sectors (oil & gas, defence, food processing, medical devices, construction, and others). Manufacturers and suppliers in these sectors are increasingly expected to demonstrate ICV compliance to participate in government procurement programmes under Operation 300bn.

How SAN Tools Supports Your ICV Position

SAN Tools is UAE-registered, UAE-trading, and has operated from the UAE since 1987. Purchases from SAN Tools qualify as local procurement spend for ICV calculation purposes:

• All invoices are issued in AED from a UAE entity
• Stock is held in-country — no overseas lead times
• Same-week delivery to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and across the UAE
• ICV-eligible supplier documentation available on request

Read more about our UAE local supplier positioning on our Local Supplier UAE page.