IFS Logistics Certification Cost: Broker and PACsecure Compared

Which items make up the budget of an IFS Logistics, Broker or PACsecure project?

Four, and the audit is not always the heaviest. IFS standards set no prices; they set minimum audit durations and rules. Everything else depends on the site. The table helps build a budget, item by item.

A trader without a warehouse spends mostly internal time on its suppliers and specifications. A cold store or a packaging manufacturer may have works to fund before even thinking about the audit. That is why a serious quote follows a gap analysis, not the other way round.

How is the audit duration calculated in each standard?

From a minimum written into the standard, which the certification body then adjusts. The certification body sets the final duration and justifies any reduction in the audit report; reductions can never be combined.

Three rules come on top of these figures:

• time outside the audit: IFS PACsecure adds at least two hours of preparation and 0.75 day of report writing; IFS Logistics adds at least two hours of preparation and half a day for the report; for IFS Broker, report writing typically takes half a day;
• the audit team: at least two more hours for common tasks, meetings and discussion of findings;
• the interpreter: the version 3 doctrines require 20% more audit time when the audit cannot be held in the site’s language. In French, IFS Logistics and IFS Broker do not allow an interpreter: the auditor must speak the language.

Combinations count too. A trader that wants its warehouse certified undergoes an IFS Broker and IFS Logistics audit of at least 1.25 days (10 hours). A manufacturer that resells bought-in products can combine IFS PACsecure or IFS Food with IFS Broker. Choosing the right standard upfront avoids paying for an unnecessary audit: see our IFS Logistics, IFS Broker and IFS PACsecure guide.

What lengthens preparation before the audit?

The gap between what the site does today and what the standard requires. It is measured in the gap analysis, requirement by requirement, KO requirements first. The long work streams differ from one standard to another:

• for a trader (IFS Broker): obtaining suppliers’ certificates or, failing that, each customer’s written acceptance; writing specifications and getting them approved; building the testing plan for the analyses customers demand;
• for a logistics provider (IFS Logistics): temperature control and monitoring, hygiene and pest control, contracts with transport or storage subcontractors;
• for a packaging manufacturer (IFS PACsecure): personal hygiene, foreign material control, the state of the premises, traceability of materials through to the lots delivered, all of which are KO requirements or touch on them.

In all three cases, the system must have produced evidence over a real period: records, internal audits covering every requirement, a traceability test, a recall test, a management review. A system written the night before the audit does not hold up in front of an auditor who follows products or lots.

For a site far from the standard, IFS Progress spreads the effort. Under the IFS Progress PACsecure programme, each level should not exceed one year, unless agreed with business partners, and the full standard must be reached within three years at most. Each assessment typically lasts eight hours, at least two-thirds of it in production. Our IFS Progress PACsecure case study follows this route.

Which costs come back every year after certification?

The annual audit, and everything that goes into preparing it. The certificate is valid for twelve months, and the cycle starts again:

• the recertification audit, announced, between eight weeks before and two weeks after the audit due date;
• the unannounced audit, at least once in every three for IFS Logistics and IFS PACsecure, with a blackout period of ten working days at most to declare;
• the follow-up audit after a Major non-conformity, no later than six months after, with the certificate limited to Foundation level;
• the new initial audit after a failure, no earlier than six weeks after;
• the extension audit if new products or services join the scope;
• maintenance: internal audits, training for newcomers, monitoring of the doctrines.

A certified site must also accept checks under the IFS Integrity Program, generally announced thirty minutes beforehand. The best saving remains avoiding a follow-up audit or a failure: a mock audit under real conditions costs less than a cycle to redo. See our audits and inspections.

What can be funded, and how do you compare offers?

Training, not the audit. In Morocco, the special training contracts (contrats spéciaux de formation, CSF) of OFPPT (Office de la formation professionnelle et de la promotion du travail, Morocco’s vocational training office) cover training actions: food safety, hygiene, traceability and internal auditor courses may qualify; the certification audit and building works do not. Only OFPPT decides the reimbursement, under its rules and according to the vocational training tax the company has declared. Our CSF and OFPPT funding service simulates the funding file with you, without promising any amount.

To compare two quotes from certification bodies, or two consultancy offers, check these points:

• The proposed audit duration respects the standard’s minimum, and any reduction is justified in writing.
  
• The share of time on site is stated: at least half of the duration for IFS Logistics and IFS PACsecure.
  
• Preparation and report writing time is priced separately.
  
• The auditor’s language is confirmed, to avoid the 20% interpreting surcharge.
  
• Travel costs and the option of a remote IFS Broker audit are specified.
  
• Possible combined audits (Broker and Logistics, PACsecure and Broker) are priced.
  
• The consultancy offer separates gap analysis, documentation, training and mock audit.