For companies competing in Qatar’s energy, infrastructure and government supply chains, the ICV score is no longer a formality. It is a number that directly changes whether your bid wins. Under the Tawteen commercial evaluation model, a bidder’s price is adjusted using the formula Commercial bid × (1 – ICV%), which means a supplier with a 30% ICV score is effectively evaluated as though its price were 30% lower than a competitor scoring zero.
So the question most business owners in Qatar now ask is not “how do I get certified” but “how do I improve my ICV score in Qatar?” This guide breaks down eight practical levers you can pull — and, just as importantly, when to pull them.
First, understand what the score actually measures
Before optimising anything, you need to know what is being measured. According to the In-Country Value Digital Portal, the formula is:
ICV Score = (Eligible Local Cost ÷ Total Cost) + Bonus
Eligible Local Cost captures spend on goods and services (including manpower compensation and overhead), workforce training, supplier development and investment in fixed assets. The Bonus element rewards a set of strategic behaviours on top of that base calculation.
Two things follow from this. First, your score is a ratio, so it improves either by increasing eligible local cost or by reducing non-eligible cost. Usually imports and offshore spend. Second, the score is derived from your audited financial statements, not from intentions. A decision made in March affects the certificate you receive the following year. If you are new to the programme, start with our overview of ICV certification in Qatar.
1. Buy from suppliers who have a high ICV score themselves
This is the single most overlooked lever. Purchases from other suppliers are captured under the goods and services component and your ICV contribution from that supplier is calculated by multiplying your spend on them by their own ICV score. Buy QAR 1 million from a supplier scoring 60% and you bank QAR 600,000 of eligible local cost. Buy the same value from an uncertified supplier and the contribution can be minimal.
Practical action: ask every significant vendor for a copy of their valid ICV certificate before you place the order and build the score into your vendor selection matrix alongside price and lead time.
2. Move procurement from imported goods to Qatar-manufactured alternatives
Imported goods carry little eligible local value and inflate your total cost denominator. Where a Qatar-made equivalent exists — steel, cabling, chemicals, packaging, fabricated items — switching suppliers improves the numerator and shrinks the drag simultaneously. Even partial substitution across high-volume consumables can move a score by several percentage points over a financial year.
3. Bring manpower onto your own Qatar payroll
Manpower compensation paid in Qatar is eligible local cost. Companies that rely heavily on offshore support functions, group-level shared services billed from a parent abroad, or subcontracted labour supplied through low-scoring agencies lose value here.
Reviewing where your headcount legally sits and whether functions currently billed from overseas could be performed by staff employed in Doha, is one of the more structural improvements available. Because this also touches Wage Protection System and Labour Law obligations, it is worth reading our guide to payroll outsourcing in Qatar before restructuring anything.
4. Invest in fixed assets located in Qatar
Investment in fixed assets held in Qatar is a recognised component of the formula. Workshops, warehousing, plant, testing equipment, vehicles and IT infrastructure purchased and held locally all contribute. If capital expenditure is already on your roadmap, the timing of that spend relative to your financial year-end has a real effect on the certificate you receive.
5. Formalise your workforce training spend
Most companies in Qatar train their people. Far fewer capture it in a form a certifier can verify. Workforce training is an explicit component of the ICV formula, but only documented, costed and invoiced training counts — informal on-the-job coaching with no paper trail does not.
Set up a training cost centre in your accounting system, retain provider invoices, attendance records and certificates and allocate internal trainer time properly.
6. Spend deliberately on supplier development
Supplier development covers costs incurred to raise the performance, skills and capability of local suppliers — audits of their processes, technical assistance, quality systems support and training you fund on their behalf. For larger contractors this is often an untapped component, partly because the spend exists but is buried inside general operating costs rather than tracked separately.
7. Capture every element of the Bonus scheme
The Bonus sits outside the main ratio and rewards strategic behaviours such as Qatarisation, support for local SMEs, export activity and local research and development. Because these points are additive, they are among the cheapest gains available to a company that is already performing well operationally but has never claimed them. The Tawteen ICV portal provides a calculation simulator that lets you model the effect before committing.
8. Get your financial records audit-ready before you submit
This lever costs nothing and is where most scores are quietly lost. Eligible costs that are lumped into generic expense accounts, intercompany charges with no supporting documentation, unallocated overheads and inconsistent cost classifications all end up excluded by the certifier — not because the spend was ineligible, but because it could not be substantiated.
A clean chart of accounts that mirrors the ICV components, prepared alongside properly audited financial statements, routinely recovers value that would otherwise be written off. This is also why choosing the right ICV certification consultant in Qatar matters more than treating certification as a commodity.
Timing: why 12 months of lead time changes everything
Because the ICV score in Qatar is calculated from a completed financial year, improvements implemented today appear on the certificate issued after your next year-end. Companies that begin planning three weeks before ICV certificate renewal have almost no room to influence the outcome. Companies that plan a full financial year in advance can restructure procurement, payroll and capital spending in ways that lift the score materially.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the ICV score calculated in Qatar?
The ICV score is calculated as Eligible Local Cost divided by Total Cost, plus a Bonus. Eligible Local Cost includes spend on goods and services, workforce training, supplier development and investment in fixed assets, as set out on the ICV Digital Portal. The figures are drawn from your audited financial statements for the relevant year, not from projections.
What is a good ICV score in Qatar?
There is no single passing mark — the score is used comparatively during tender evaluation, where a higher percentage directly improves your adjusted commercial bid. In practice, companies scoring in the 40–60% range are generally well positioned against competitors in the same sector, while scores above that put a bidder at a strong advantage. What counts as “good” depends on your industry and the scores your direct competitors are achieving.
How quickly can I improve my ICV score?
Because the score is calculated from a completed financial year, changes made today only appear on the certificate issued after your next year-end closes. There is no way to retroactively improve a score once the financial year it covers has ended. This is why planning should start at the beginning of a financial year, not a few weeks before certificate renewal.
Does buying from uncertified suppliers hurt my ICV score?
Yes. Spend with an uncertified or low-scoring supplier contributes very little to your Eligible Local Cost, since your contribution from that purchase is calculated by multiplying the spend by the supplier’s own ICV score. Switching to certified, higher-scoring suppliers for significant purchases is one of the fastest ways to lift your own score.
Is ICV certification mandatory for all companies in Qatar?
ICV certification itself is not a general legal requirement for every company. It becomes effectively mandatory for businesses that want to bid for contracts with Tawteen partner companies, QatarEnergy and other government or energy-sector entities that apply ICV weighting in their tender evaluation. Companies outside these supply chains can operate without it, but lose access to that segment of the market.
Who can certify my ICV score in Qatar?
ICV scores must be verified by an approved ICV certifier recognised under the Tawteen programme. Kreston SVP is an experienced ICV certifier in Qatar and can review your cost structure, identify which components are under-claimed and prepare the certification submission.
Talk to an approved ICV certifier in Qatar
As part of the global Kreston network and an experienced team of ICV certifiers in Qatar, Kreston SVP helps businesses model their score before submission, identify which levers deliver the largest return for their cost base and prepare documentation that withstands certifier scrutiny.
Contact Kreston SVP to discuss an ICV score improvement review for your next certification cycle.
