Financial Information in Research Bids

Proposals for research funds and applications for project funding from government departments need to include estimates of the total costs for which support is sought. For long-term funding, detailed cost profiles for each project year may be required. Costs are normally disaggregated into the following items:

• salary costs of the personnel who will be working directly on the project;

• consumables such as scientific laboratory supplies;

• capital equipment, which may be defined as fixed assets exceeding a specified threshold cost;

• overheads, ie costs that support research activities but cannot readily be attributed to a particular project;

• subcontractors' and consultants' fees;

• travel and subsistence expenses;

• other miscellaneous items such as the costs of equipment servicing, computer software, recruitment and financial services: these may be categorized as indirect costs by the funding body.

EC research contracts use a range of cost bases. Participants may identify all the direct and indirect costs incurred on a project, provided they have an accounting system that allows this to be done with sufficient accuracy; or they may identify their direct costs and charge overheads as a flat-rate percentage of their direct personnel costs; or opt for an additional cost basis as defined by the Commission.

Research clients will require information also about the amount of funding secured or expected from other sources. As part of the Small Business Research Initiative (Chapter 4), government departments in the UK may ask for information about the amount of funded work that might be subcontracted to small businesses.