What makes up the budget of a logistics certification project?
Five invoiced lines and a hidden one: your teams’ time. The texts cost nothing. According to the BRCGS guide to certification, the Storage and Distribution standard can be accessed free of charge via the BRCGS Store, and IFS publishes the IFS Logistics version 3 standard on its website, in English and in French.
Budget line | What it covers in a warehouse | Main lever |
|---|---|---|
Consultancy | Gap analysis, scope, hazard analysis, subcontractor contracts, mock audit | Written deliverables rather than a number of days |
Training | Project lead, HACCP team, dock supervisors, forklift drivers, internal auditors | Train in the teams’ language, on site |
Equipment and works | Data loggers, alarms, probes, temperature mapping of rooms; handwashing and segregation if open product is handled | Decide after the hazard analysis, not before |
Certification audit | Audit, report, review of corrections, travel, interpreter if needed | A written scope before the quote |
Translation | BRCGS SD401 self-assessment checklist, published in English only | A working translation validated by the project lead |
Internal time | Project lead, deputy, records, internal audits, meetings | Time set aside every week |
Which factors change the audit duration?
Size and scope, in both standards, but under different rules. At BRCGS, the certification body calculates the duration with the official audit duration calculator; modules can lengthen it, according to the Storage and Distribution page, and an unannounced audit lasts as long as an announced one, according to the BRCGS079 protocol. At IFS, chapter 3.1 of Part 1 of the standard sets the rules.
IFS Logistics version 3 rule | Content |
|---|---|
Minimum duration | One day of eight hours, lunch break excluded, never more than ten hours a day; 1.25 days for a combined IFS Logistics and IFS Broker audit |
Factors that may extend it | Initial audit, size of the site, type of services, scope, number of transport and storage units, number of service providers, total headcount including temporary staff, deviations from the previous audit, decentralised structure, communication issues such as language |
Reduction to six hours | Only one service (transport or storage) and one kind of handling for one product scope, or no more than 50 employees on site |
Reduction by half a day | IFS combined audit, multi-location company with head office functions already audited, multi-legal-entity company on one site, extension audit after an unannounced audit |
Time added | Two hours of preparation and four hours of report writing; at least two more hours for an audit team |
On-site share | At least 50% of the duration, one third in case of reduction to six hours |
Interpreter (doctrine version 3, April 2026) | Not allowed if the site language is, among others, French or English; for another language the auditor does not speak, an independent interpreter with a technical background, and 20% more audit time |
Reductions cannot be combined and must be justified in the audit report. On the BRCGS side, the duration follows from the Standard's audit duration calculator, which the certification body applies: ask it to state on its quote the duration used and the factors taken into account (size, scope, modules). If you are aiming instead at FSSC 22000 Version 7 in category G, each off-site warehouse or cross-docking platform adds at least 0.25 auditor day.
How long does the project take, and which deadlines are fixed?
No duration is imposed before the audit, but the calendar has fixed constraints. The audit assesses real practices: a system written the month before will not pass.
What takes time, in the warehouses we support:
- subcontractor contracts, to be drafted, negotiated and signed by both parties, occasional hauliers included;
- equipment, data loggers, alarms and probes, to be installed and then run;
- a real cycle of records, nights, weekends and public holidays included, before the mock audit;
- fraud and threat assessments, to be carried out by competent people;
- training, to be scheduled outside the peaks of the export season;
- the traceability test and internal audits, carried out on the system in operation.
The only official deadlines come after the audit.
Milestone | BRCGS Storage and Distribution | IFS Logistics version 3 |
|---|---|---|
After the audit | Corrections, root cause analysis and preventive action submitted within 28 days | Action plan sent by the auditor within two weeks; site’s evidence of corrections within four weeks |
Certificate | Issued no later than 42 calendar days after the first audit day | Report and certificate uploaded to the IFS Database between six and eight weeks after the last audit day |
Validity | Up to 12 months; 6 months for grades C and D | From the date of issue until the last day of the initial audit plus one year and eight weeks, minus one day |
Failure | No certificate; new full audit | New initial audit no earlier than six weeks later |
What makes the budget overrun?
Organisation, more than the audit itself. Five causes keep coming back.
- A grade C or D at BRCGS. The certificate is valid for only six months: two audits a year instead of one.
- A contract signed too late. For the BRCGS unannounced audit, contractual terms must be agreed before the four-month window opens; otherwise the audit due date is moved, the certificate may expire and a major non-conformity is raised.
- Refusing access. In the BRCGS unannounced programme, the site pays the auditor’s costs and reverts to the announced programme, and its certificate may be suspended or withdrawn (position statement 6 of SD404). At IFS, the certificate is withdrawn within two working days of the audit date and the total cost of the audit is invoiced.
- A scope that keeps growing. BRCGS modules added without a customer request, IFS decentralised structures to be audited, overflow warehouses forgotten and then discovered during the audit.
- Two standards required. Two audits, two unannounced audit calendars, two rounds of corrections. A single system with a cross-reference table limits duplicated work, not the cost of the audits.
Language adds to this. IFS requires the audit to take place in the site’s working language: if the site works in Arabic and the auditor does not speak it, an independent interpreter is required and audit duration increases by 20%, according to the April 2026 doctrine. On the BRCGS side, the self-assessment checklist exists in English only.
What can be funded, and how should the budget be presented?
Training, in part; the rest, no. In Morocco, special training contracts (CSF) managed by OFPPT (Office de la formation professionnelle et de la promotion du travail, the national vocational training office) cover training actions: project lead, HACCP team, dock supervisors, forklift drivers, internal auditors. The certification audit and the equipment are not eligible, and neither is consultancy as such. Rates, procedure and a simulation are on our page on funding through CSF and OFPPT: these are rules, not guaranteed amounts, and only OFPPT decides the reimbursement. These rules come from the CSF procedures manual of May 2006 and its Amendment No. 2 of 2 June 2014.
To present the project to your management committee, gather:
The full certification framework is in our BRCGS Storage and Distribution Issue 4 guide, and our BRCGS S&D vs IFS Logistics case study of a multi-client cold store near Tanger Med shows how to choose when two customers require two standards.