ICAC has greatly reduced its overhead to save your organization tens of thousands in accreditation fees.

ICAC was founded in 1996 by a group of association executive directors/presidents who were concerned that the only accreditation programs available were priced well beyond the affordability range of most small to mid-sized certification programs.

With this in mind, they determined that the ICAC could offer the very same high quality accreditation services offered by large accreditation bodies, but at a fraction of the cost.

Through the use of countless volunteer hours and the support of existing member associations (even today most ICAC activities are performed by volunteers and office/staff provided through member associations) – ICAC has been able to achieve this goal of providing high-quality accreditation services at an affordable cost.

Compare our services and fees…	ICAC	Other Accreditation Bodies
Evaluates certification programs to ISO/IEC 17024	Yes	Yes
Operates accreditation processes to ISO/IEC 17011	Yes	Yes
Accreditation recognized by various industry and governmental agencies	Yes	Yes
Requires extensive certification program background from evaluation team	Yes	Yes
Pre-Assessment Interview	Free	$1,250 plus expenses
Application Fee	$1,500	$3,000
Initial On-Site Evaluation Visit	$2,400*	$5,000*
Review of Corrective Actions	Free	$1,250 per day (1 day minimum)
Annual Surveillance Fee (review of self-reporting documentation)	Free	$1,250 per day (1 day minimum)
Mid-Term Surveillance Fee (Required in the 3rd year of accreditation)	$1,000**	$1,250 per day (per assessor)
Annual “Membership” Fee	$200	$2,500 to $20,000 ***
Appealing an Accreditation Decision	Free	$1,000
Cost of additional similarly administered certification programs	Free	Fees for services may apply to each certification program individually

 

*Most other accreditation bodies charge $1,250 per day per assessor, plus expenses.  ICAC provides two assessors for two days.  So this is a best estimate (excluding travel costs which are assumed to be similar), but may be more or less based on the size of the team and the size of the organization evaluated.

**ICAC is now conducting mid-term surveillance remotely, so no travel fees will be assessed.

***The largest national accreditation organization charges an annual fee based on the budget size of the organization.  Those under $250,000 in annual revenues pay $2500 per year, $250,000 – $500,000 pay $3,000 annually, $500,000 to $1 million pay $4,000, $1 million – $2 million pay $6,000, $2 million – $4 million pay $10,000, $4 million – $6 million pay $16,000 and those over $6 million pay $20,000 per year.