The General Office of the State Council City, the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC issued ＂Several Opinions on Further Improving the Fund Management of Central Financial Research Pro
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 31 (Xinhua) Recently, the general offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Further Improving the Funds Management of the Central Government’s Scientific Research Projects", and issued a notice requesting all localities and departments to conscientiously implement them in light of the actual situation.
The full text of "Several Opinions on Further Improving the Fund Management of Scientific Research Projects of the Central Government" is as follows.
Since the publication of "Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of System and Mechanism and Accelerating the Implementation of Innovation-Driven Development Strategy" and "Several Opinions of the State Council on Improving and Strengthening the Central Government’s Scientific Research Projects and Fund Management", it has effectively stimulated the vitality of innovation and promoted the development of science and technology, but there are also some problems such as inadequate implementation of reform measures and imperfect fund management of scientific research projects. In order to implement the requirements of the central government on deepening reform and innovation, forming a dynamic scientific and technological management and operation mechanism, and further improving the policies of the central government on fund management of scientific research projects, we hereby put forward the following opinions.
I. General requirements
Fully implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Plenary Sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee and the National Conference on Science and Technology Innovation, thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the series of important speeches by the Supreme Leader General Secretary under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory, Theory of Three Represents and Scientific Outlook on Development, firmly establish and implement the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, and thoroughly implement the innovation-driven development strategy in accordance with the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. Promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation, further promote decentralization, combination of decentralization and management, optimize services, reform and innovate the use and management of scientific research funds, and promote the formation of a dynamic scientific and technological management and operation mechanism to deepen reform and better stimulate the enthusiasm of the majority of scientific research personnel.
— — Adhere to the people-oriented principle. To mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of scientific researchers as the starting point and the end result, strengthen the incentive mechanism, increase incentives, and stimulate innovation and creativity.
— — Adhere to the law. According to the laws of scientific research activities and the requirements of financial budget management, improve management policies, optimize management processes and improve management methods to meet the actual needs of scientific research activities.
— — Adhere to the "streamline administration, delegate power, strengthen regulation and improve services" combination. Further simplify administration and decentralization, combine decentralization with management, optimize services, and expand the management authority of research project funds, travel meetings, capital construction, and procurement of scientific research instruments and equipment where universities and research institutes are located, so as to create a good environment for researchers to concentrate on research. At the same time, strengthen post-event supervision and seriously investigate and deal with violations of law and discipline.
— — Adhere to the implementation of policies. Refine the policy provisions, strengthen supervision, pay close attention to implementation, get through the "blocking points" in policy implementation, and enhance the sense of accomplishment and acquisition of scientific research personnel reform.
Two, improve the central financial research project fund management.
(1) Simplify budget preparation and decentralize budget adjustment authority. According to the laws and characteristics of scientific research activities, improve the budget preparation method, implement the pre-allocation system of project funds before the departmental budget is approved, and ensure the timely use of project funds by scientific researchers. Decentralize the budgetary adjustment authority, and delegate the budgetary adjustment authority of the direct costs such as material costs, testing and processing costs, fuel power costs, publishing/literature/information dissemination/intellectual property affairs costs and other expenditures to the project undertaker under the condition that the total project budget remains unchanged. Simplify the budget preparation subjects, merge the subjects of conference fees, travel expenses and international cooperation and exchange fees, and the scientific research personnel shall prepare the budget according to the actual needs of scientific research activities and make overall arrangements for their use according to the regulations, where the direct costs do not exceed 10%, and there is no need to provide the basis for budget calculation.
(2) Increase the proportion of indirect expenses and increase performance incentives. Indirect expenses should be set up for R&D projects that implement open competition in the science and technology plan (special projects, funds, etc.) of the central government, and the approved proportion can be increased to not more than a certain proportion of direct expenses deducting equipment purchase expenses: 20% for the part below 5 million yuan, 15% for the part between 5 million yuan and 10 million yuan, and 13% for the part above 10 million yuan. Increase the incentive for scientific research personnel, and cancel the proportion limit of performance expenditure. When arranging indirect costs as a whole, the project undertaker should deal with the relationship between reasonable allocation of indirect costs and incentives for researchers, and the arrangement of performance expenditure should be linked to the actual contribution of researchers in the project work.
(three) clear the scope of labor expenses, without proportional restrictions. Postgraduates, postdocs, visiting scholars, researchers and research assistants employed by the project can all spend their labor expenses. The standard of labor expenses for project employees shall be determined according to the average wage level of employees in local scientific research and technical service industry and the tasks undertaken in the project research, and the social insurance subsidies shall be included in the labor expenses. There is no proportional limit to the labor budget, which is compiled by the project undertaker and scientific research personnel according to the facts.
(4) Improve the handling method of retained surplus funds. During the implementation of the project, the remaining funds in one year can be carried forward to the next year for continued use. After the project has completed its mission objectives and passed the acceptance, the surplus funds will be retained by the project undertaker in accordance with the regulations, and the project undertaker will make overall arrangements for direct expenditures for scientific research activities within 2 years; If it is not used up after 2 years, it shall be recovered according to the regulations.
(five) independently regulate the management of horizontal funds. The horizontal funds obtained by the project undertaker in the form of market entrustment shall be incorporated into the unified financial management of the unit and managed and used by the project undertaker according to the requirements of the entrusting party or the contract.
Third, improve the management of travel meetings of central universities and research institutes.
(1) Improve the management of travel expenses of teaching and research personnel in central universities and research institutes. Central universities and scientific research institutes may, according to the actual needs of teaching, scientific research and management, study and formulate measures for the management of travel expenses in accordance with the principles of streamlining, high efficiency and strict economy, and reasonably determine the level of transportation and accommodation standards for teaching and scientific research personnel. For those who are difficult to obtain invoices for accommodation fees, the central universities and research institutes shall, on the premise of ensuring authenticity, truthfully reimburse the inter-city transportation fees, and issue food subsidies and local transportation fees according to the prescribed standards.
(2) Improve the conference management of central universities and research institutes. Business meetings (such as academic meetings, seminars, review meetings, symposiums, defense meetings, etc.) held by central universities and research institutes for teaching and research needs, the number of meetings, the number of days, the number of people, and the scope and standards of conference expenses shall be determined by central universities and research institutes in accordance with the principles of seeking truth from facts, streamlining and efficiency, and practicing economy. Inter-city transportation expenses incurred by delegates attending the meeting shall, in principle, be reimbursed by their units according to the provisions on travel expenses management; Experts, scholars and relevant personnel at home and abroad are invited to attend the meeting due to work needs, and the inter-city transportation expenses and international travel expenses that really need to be borne can be reimbursed by the organizer in the meeting expenses and other expenses.
Four, improve the central universities and research institutes of scientific research instruments and equipment procurement management.
(1) Improve the government procurement management of central universities and research institutes. Central universities and research institutes can purchase their own scientific research instruments and equipment, and choose their own experts to evaluate scientific research instruments and equipment. The Ministry of Finance should simplify the budget adjustment of government procurement projects and the approval process for changing government procurement methods. Central universities and scientific research institutes should do a good job in the supervision and management of equipment procurement, and make the whole process open, transparent and traceable.
(2) Optimize the procurement services of imported instruments and equipment. The central universities and research institutes purchase imported instruments and equipment for filing management. Continue to implement the tax exemption policy for imported scientific research and teaching supplies.
Five, improve the management of capital construction projects in central universities and research institutes.
(1) Expand the management authority of capital construction projects of central universities and research institutes. The central universities and research institutes shall make their own decisions on projects that use their own funds and do not apply for government investment, and report them to the competent authorities for the record, and no examination and approval will be conducted. The National Development and Reform Commission and the competent departments of central universities and research institutes should strengthen the guidance, supervision and inspection of capital construction projects of central universities and research institutes.
(2) Simplify the examination and approval procedures for capital construction projects of central universities and research institutes. The competent departments of central universities and research institutes should guide them to prepare five-year construction plans, and no longer approve project proposals for capital construction projects included in the plans. Simplify the approval procedures for urban and rural planning, land use, environmental assessment and energy rating of capital construction projects of central universities and research institutes, and shorten the approval cycle.
Sixth, standardize management and improve service
(1) Strengthen the liability of legal persons and standardize the management of funds. The project undertaker should conscientiously implement the relevant national policies and regulations, strengthen self-discipline and self-regulation in accordance with the requirements of consistency of powers and responsibilities, and ensure that it can be accepted and managed well. Formulate internal management measures, and implement management authority such as project budget adjustment, overall use of indirect expenses, labor cost allocation management, and use of surplus funds; Strengthen the budget audit, standardize the financial expenditure behavior, improve the internal risk prevention and control mechanism, strengthen the performance evaluation of fund use, and ensure the safe, standardized and effective use of funds; The implementation of internal disclosure system, take the initiative to disclose the project budget, budget adjustment, the use of funds (focusing on indirect costs, the use of funds allocated, the use of surplus funds), research results and so on.
(2) Strengthen overall coordination and streamline inspection and evaluation. The Ministry of Science and Technology, the competent department of the project and the Ministry of Finance should strengthen the overall coordination of the system norms, annual plans and application of the results of the supervision of scientific research projects, and establish a collaborative working mechanism with clear responsibilities and division of responsibilities. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the competent department of the project should speed up the clean-up and standardization of all kinds of inspection and evaluation of scientific research projects entrusted by intermediaries, strengthen the use of relevant inspection results that have been carried out in the early stage, promote the sharing of inspection results, reduce the number of inspections, improve inspection methods, and avoid repeated inspections, multiple inspections and excessive inspections.
(C) innovative service methods, so that researchers can devote themselves to scientific research. The project undertaker shall establish and improve the scientific research financial assistant system, and provide professional services for scientific researchers in the aspects of project budget preparation and adjustment, expenditure, financial final accounts and acceptance, etc. The expenses required for scientific research financial assistants can be solved by the project undertaker through scientific research project funds and other channels according to the situation. Make full use of information technology, establish and improve the information platform shared by scientific research, financial departments and project leaders within the unit, and improve the efficiency and convenience of scientific research management. Formulate internal reimbursement regulations that meet the actual needs of scientific research, and effectively solve the problems of reimbursement for expenses incurred in scientific research activities such as field trips and psychological tests, and inviting foreign experts to participate in academic exchanges in China.
Seven, strengthen the system construction and work supervision, to ensure that policies and measures are effective.
(a) as soon as possible to introduce operational implementation details. The competent department of the project should improve the budget preparation guide and guide the project undertaker and scientific research personnel to scientifically and reasonably prepare the project budget; Formulate detailed rules for budget evaluation, optimize evaluation procedures and methods, standardize evaluation behavior, and establish and improve a timely communication and feedback mechanism with project applicants; Formulate detailed rules for financial acceptance, and standardize the financial inspection entrusted by intermediaries. Before September 1, 2016, central universities and research institutes should formulate internal management measures for travel expenses and conference fees, and their competent departments should strengthen work guidance and overall planning; Before the end of 2016, the competent department of the project shall formulate relevant implementation rules, and the project undertaker shall formulate or revise the internal management measures and reimbursement regulations for scientific research project funds. Units undertaking scientific research projects in future years shall formulate relevant management measures and regulations in the same year.
(two) to strengthen the supervision and guidance of the implementation of policies and measures. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology should timely organize and carry out supervision on the implementation of management authority, formulation of internal management measures, innovative service methods, construction of internal control mechanism, internal disclosure of related matters, etc. of the project undertaker, inform the supervision in an appropriate way, and incorporate the inspection results into credit management, which is linked to the approval of indirect expenses and the retention of surplus funds. Audit institutions should carry out audit supervision on the implementation of policies and measures and financial funds according to law. The competent department of the project should supervise and guide the subordinate units to improve their internal management and ensure that the national policies and regulations are implemented.
The Ministry of Finance and the competent department of social science research projects at the central level shall, in light of the laws and characteristics of social science research, revise the fund management measures for social science research projects at the central level as soon as possible with reference to this opinion.
All regions should refer to the spirit of this opinion, combined with the actual situation, accelerate the reform of scientific research project funds management and other work.