As several major contracts governing the DRC's foreign trade control framework near expiry, British inspection group Intertek and French rival Bureau Veritas are both actively lobbying Congolese authorities for position. On May 6, 2026, an Intertek delegation led by Jeremy Gaspard, the group's vice-president for government and commercial services, was received in Kinshasa by Foreign Trade Minister Julien Paluku Kahongya. The company proposed a public-private partnership with the Congolese state, structured through the Office congolais de contrôle (OCC), covering inspection, physical testing, and product certification for both imports and exports.
The approach directly targets territory currently held by Bureau Veritas through its BIVAC subsidiary, which has operated two flagship programmes in the DRC for nearly two decades: the import compliance verification programme (VOC), under OCC mandate, and the single foreign trade window SEGUCE. Both contracts are due to expire in 2026 — the VOC contract, originally awarded in 2006, in November, and the SEGUCE agreement, signed in 2013 with the BIVAC/Soget consortium, in October. Following prior extensions, the Congolese government is understood to be considering opening the selection of the next concessionaire to competitive tender, with OCC's then Director General Étienne Tshimanga stating at a January steering committee meeting that an international tender would be launched in accordance with applicable rules.
Bureau Veritas has moved to protect its position. In March, the group's vice-president for government contracts, Stéphane Gaudechon, met Prime Minister Judith Suminwa in Abu Dhabi, with discussions centring on the two contracts. Gaudechon subsequently indicated a "genuine will to consolidate a 20-year partnership" with the Congolese state.
That framing, however, sits against a backdrop of longstanding criticism of the contracts' implementation. President Félix Tshisekedi requested an evaluation of the OCC-BIVAC contract from the Inspectorate General of Finance in 2023, citing what he described as flaws in the partnership's execution. Official sources have at times reported contract execution rates below 35% over multiple years, an assessment that adds pressure on Bureau Veritas as it seeks renewal and lends weight to Intertek's bid for entry into the market.
