Notice on Several Measures to Further Improve the Management of Financial Research Project Funds Issued by the General Office of the People's Government of Shandong Province
Regarding Further Improving the Management of Financial Research Project Funds
Several measures
In order to implement the spirit of documents such as the "Notice of the State Council on Several Measures to Optimize Scientific Research Management and Improve Scientific Research Performance" (Guofa [2018] No. 25), the "Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Implementing Relevant Documents on Empowering Scientific Research Institutions and Personnel with Greater Autonomy" (Guobanfa [2018] No. 127), and the "Notice of the Provincial Party Committee Office and the Provincial Government Office on Implementing the Policy of Improving the Management of Financial Scientific Research Project Funds", effectively solve the "difficulties", "pain points" and "bottlenecks" in the current management of financial scientific research project funds in our province, empower scientific researchers with greater autonomy, and fully unleash innovation vitality, the following measures are formulated.
1、 Simplify the budget preparation and management of financial research projects
（1） Simplify the content of budget preparation for financial research projects. Researchers only need to calculate the total amount of project budget subjects according to scientific research activities, and direct expenses only need to fill in five categories of budget subjects: equipment costs, material costs/testing and processing fees/fuel and power costs, travel expenses/conference expenses/international cooperation and exchange fees, labor costs/expert consulting fees, and other expenses. Indirect expenses are only listed under two budget categories: management fees and performance expenditures.
（2） Delegate the authority to adjust the budget of financial research projects. Under the condition that the total budget of the project remains unchanged, researchers can independently adjust the direct expenses during the project implementation process according to the actual needs of scientific research activities, without being limited by budget subjects and proportions, and will be audited by the project undertaking unit based on the actual situation.
（3） Increase the proportion of indirect expenses for scientific research projects. For natural science research projects, after deducting equipment costs, the indirect expenses for the portion below 5 million yuan shall not exceed 30%, the portion between 5 million and 10 million yuan shall not exceed 25%, and the portion above 10 million yuan shall not exceed 20%. For research projects in philosophy and social sciences, indirect costs of up to 200000 yuan shall not exceed 50%, those between 200000 yuan and 500000 yuan shall not exceed 40%, those between 500000 yuan and 5 million yuan shall not exceed 20%, and those above 5 million yuan shall not exceed 13%. For pure theoretical research projects such as mathematics, the proportion of indirect funding can be further adjusted appropriately according to the actual situation. The use of indirect funds should be tilted towards teams and individuals with outstanding innovation performance. In scientific research projects arranged with financial funds, the maximum proportion of management fees extracted by the project undertaking unit shall not exceed 5%.
2、 Improve the management of financial research project funding expenditures
(IV) optimize the procedures for allocating funds for financial research projects. Speed up the progress of the allocation of funds for various scientific research projects at the provincial level, simplify the allocation procedures, and directly allocate the project funds of provincial non-budget units to the basic households of the project undertaking units.
(V) simplify the internal approval process for research funding. Optimize reimbursement procedures, reduce multi-departmental and multi-link approvals such as finance, procurement, assets, and scientific research, formulate internal reimbursement regulations that meet the actual needs of scientific research, and clarify unified and standardized reimbursement procedures and standards. The relevant internal systems and methods formulated by the project undertaking unit, as well as the members of the scientific research project team, the time limit for project completion, the budget scale, the purchase of equipment, the use of funds, and the research results shall be made public within the corresponding scope.
(VI) expand the scope of fund transfers from unit zero-balance accounts. Allow some scientific research project funds to be transferred from the zero balance account of the unit to the actual fund account of the unit or other budget units of the department. Specifically, it includes: according to the relevant system, the budget unit and the scientific research project undertaking unit sign an entrustment agreement or contract, and it is really necessary to pay the funds to the scientific research project undertaking unit according to the agreement; Reasonable settlement expenses between the internal institutions of scientific research institutes in colleges and universities, including testing and processing expenses, cost sharing expenses, etc.; Due to the incomplete foreign currency types of the zero balance account opening bank, it is indeed necessary to first transfer the purchase funds that can provide the existing actual funds account of the bank in that currency.
(VII) expand the scope of expenditure on labor costs for financial research projects. In addition to the members of the scientific research project team, the labor costs of graduate students, postdoctoral students, visiting scholars, non-establishment personnel, employed in-service researchers, retired rehired personnel, scientific research support personnel, etc., can be included in the project funds. For scientific research personnel who are employed for a long time in scientific research projects and have no other fixed source of income, the wages and social insurance subsidies in their labor contracts shall be included in the subject of labor costs.
(VIII) relaxation of business card settlement restrictions. The vertical and horizontal project funds undertaken by scientific research institutes of colleges and universities can be reimbursed as long as they meet the requirements of the competent department or the entrusted unit, and on the premise of ensuring the authenticity, they can be reimbursed with relevant basis vouchers, and are not restricted by official card settlement.
3. Expanding the Autonomy of Scientific Research Project Management of Scientific Research Institutes in Universities
(IX) improve the project research personnel salary incentive system. Project leaders and high-level talents who undertake major technological research, achievement transformation or platform construction tasks full-time and full-time shall implement one policy and list management. Employers can implement performance salary distribution tilt, annual salary system, agreement salary system and project salary system for high-level talents according to regulations, and the required funds are allowed to be listed in the project funds and approved separately. Scientific research performance expenditure and annual salary and agreement salary are included in the total performance salary management of the project undertaking unit, but not as the base for the regulation of the performance salary of the project undertaking unit.
(X) increase the proportion of scientific research personnel in the income distribution. To implement the right of scientific research personnel to the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of the income, distribution and disposal rights. Support the part-time R & D and achievement transformation of scientific research personnel from scientific research institutes of colleges and universities to state-owned enterprises or private enterprises, and increase the equity incentive for scientific research personnel of scientific research institutes and state-owned enterprises to transform scientific and technological achievements.
(11) Encourage the undertaking of horizontal scientific research projects. Encourage university scientific research institutes to undertake horizontal scientific research projects of local governments, enterprises or other social organizations, and determine the proportion of scientific research personnel undertaking horizontal scientific research projects in performance evaluation and title evaluation. The net income obtained after the completion of the horizontal entrustment project shall be distributed and the remuneration shall be withdrawn according to the contract agreement, and if there is no agreement in the contract, all shall be left to the project team members for independent distribution.
(xii) Clear access to horizontal subject notes for use. University research institutes obtain horizontal scientific research project funds, the source of which is the financial funds of administrative institutions only need to issue ordinary receipts, without the need to issue tax invoices. The ordinary receipts and internal transaction settlement bills issued are accompanied by the bank receipt of the funds allocated as the original accounting documents.
(13) Enhance the flexibility and convenience of government procurement of scientific research projects. We will vigorously promote government procurement models such as "pre-procurement", "through train" and contract renewal. Within the budget amount of scientific research project funds, scientific research institutes of colleges and universities can adjust themselves in the government procurement management system, the financial department will no longer review, year-end unified summary confirmation, one-time issuance of adjustment documents. The surplus funds of government procurement will no longer be recovered financially and will be used independently by the project unit for scientific research expenditure.
(14) Relax the restrictions on government procurement of scientific research projects. Scientific research instruments and equipment and consumables can be purchased by themselves, and scientific research instruments and equipment evaluation experts can be selected by themselves. The equipment and consumables urgently needed for scientific research shall be purchased by the project undertaking unit or team on its own according to the principle of special handling, and shall be reported to the procurement management department of the unit for the record. For the sole agent or production of instruments and equipment, according to the procedure to determine the use of single-source procurement and other methods.
4. Improve the Mechanism of Scientific Research Services Related to Scientific Research Projects
(15) Establish and improve the system of financial assistants for scientific research. According to the needs of scientific research activities, scientific research institutes of colleges and universities can independently choose fixed posts, short-term employment, third-party outsourcing and other forms, and the units will employ scientific research financial assistants uniformly or the projects will employ scientific research financial assistants independently to provide fund management services for scientific research projects. the service costs can be listed in the daily operation funds of the units, the labor costs or indirect costs of the corresponding scientific research projects.
(16) Streamline scientific research project declaration and process management. Clarify the requirements for the application of scientific research projects, reduce the application materials and implement the system of "one-time submission of materials. Establish a provincial-level scientific and technological information management platform to strengthen project duplication and avoid duplication of declarations and arrangements.
(17) Implementing preferential tax policies. For non-profit research and development institutions and institutions of higher learning, the cash reward given to scientific and technological personnel from the income from the transformation of scientific and technological achievements can be reduced by 50% and included in the "salary and salary income" of scientific and technological personnel in the current month, and personal income tax shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of the state. If an enterprise or individual invests in a domestic resident enterprise with technological achievements, and the consideration paid by the invested enterprise is all stock (rights), the enterprise or individual may choose to apply the deferred tax policy.
(18) Scientifically setting the performance objectives of scientific research projects and carrying out performance evaluation. The performance objectives of scientific research projects shall be clearly set, and the project guidelines shall put forward the project performance objectives according to the classification evaluation requirements. Goal-oriented projects can set clear and detailed phased goals according to key nodes. Classified performance evaluation is carried out for basic research and applied basic research projects, technology and product development projects, and application demonstration projects. Strengthen the spirit of the contract, in strict accordance with the agreement of the task book to assess the completion of the results of indicators, the degree of achievement of performance objectives to make a clear conclusion.
(xix) Strengthening the application of performance evaluation results. The results of performance evaluation serve as an important reference for project adjustment, follow-up support, and the completion of tasks by relevant R & D, management personnel, project undertaking units and project management professional institutions. It is necessary to carry out the performance evaluation of scientific research projects objectively, fairly and realistically, carefully identify the causes of project failure, and form a scientific research environment that tolerates failure and corrects errors. Strengthen the supervision during and after the event, and implement lifelong accountability and joint punishment for those who seriously violate the requirements of scientific research integrity, so as to force the funds to exert the maximum effect.
(20) Effective supervision and inspection. The relevant departments shall make overall arrangements and coordinate various supervision, inspection and random inspection and evaluation, reduce all kinds of evaluation, inspection and random inspection activities in the implementation cycle of scientific research projects, and implement information sharing and mutual recognition of supervision and inspection results among various departments, so as to avoid repeated inspection of the same matter in the same year.
Within 2 months from the date of issuance of this notice, the scientific research institutes of colleges and universities shall, in accordance with the requirements of the central and provincial relevant scientific research project fund management and this notice, combined with the actual situation of the department (unit) and the characteristics of different scientific research project funds, formulate or revise relevant internal management measures And the approval system, report to the Provincial Department of Science and Technology, Provincial Department of Education and other project authorities for the record. The systems and internal management methods formulated by the scientific research institutes of colleges and universities shall be used as the working basis for budget preparation, evaluation and review, fund management, audit inspection and financial acceptance.
Issued by the General Office of the People's Government of Shandong Province on July 9, 2019
