Download Factsheet 2 - Eligible Expenditure

CRC for Developing Northern Australia Project Funding Round
Factsheet 2
Eligible Project Expenditure
CRC programme funds must only be spent for the purposes of undertaking the approved
project as specified in the funding agreement. Total eligible project costs or project
expenditure must equal the total cash resources of the project (cash contributions and grant
funds).
CRC programme funds are primarily intended to be spent in Australia.

Cash is made up of participant cash contributions and grant funds.
o

Rural Research and Development Cooperation (RDC). Direct cash
contributions from Rural Research and Development Cooperation (RDC)
discretionary funds (which includes levies and Commonwealth funds) can be
included in full as cash contributions to a project. Where RDCs have issued funds
to other parties for a specific purpose and the resulting projects will be
incorporated into the activities of a project funded under the CRC for Developing
Northern Australia Project Funding Round, only the value of the industry levy
component of the funding can be counted as an in-kind contribution to the
project.
Staff in-kind contributions should include the full-time equivalent (FTE) value of staff
contributed for the project. For the purposes of determining matched funding for CRC
Projects, the Commonwealth will use a nominal value of $250,000 per FTE for in-kind
staff (covering salary, direct salary on-costs, direct and indirect support costs of
research). This is shown as FTE Value in the application form. There is no differentiation
between the different levels of staff.
o
Where CRC funds are used to pay salary, then the salary on-costs can be
claimed by the participant as non-staff in-kind contributions. If an employee’s
salary is being paid using CRC funding, the direct salary on-costs and indirect
salary on-costs associated with their work on the project, can be claimed as nonstaff in-kind. The value of the non-staff in-kind contribution must be calculated
using the nominal $250,000 less the salary paid by the CRC. Participants cannot
use their own formulas for calculating the non-staff in-kind value for direct and
indirect salary on-costs.

For example: Sam spends 100% of his time on the CRC project over
one year. The CRC pays Sam’s salary of $80,000. What can be
claimed as non-staff in-kind is calculated as:
$250,000 - $80,000 = $170,000.
Therefore non-staff in-kind will be $170,000.
o
As students are not employees of participants of the project, their time is not an
allowable contribution and therefore cannot be claimed as staff in-kind or nonstaff in-kind contributions.
o
As noted above, the Commonwealth uses a nominal value of $250,000 per FTE
for in-kind staff for the purposes of determining matched funding. This does not
mean all staff involved in a project must be paid at this nominal value. Actual
salary levels are a matter for the participants to determine.

With non-staff in-kind (NSIK) contributions the department does not prescribe a
specific formula to determine the value of non-staff in-kind. The value of non-staff in-kind
(non-cash resources such as facilities and equipment) is determined by the participant
and must be realistic and justifiable. However, the full value of equipment and facilities
cannot be claimed. Valuations of non-staff in-kind contributions provided as access to
large capital items must be valued proportionally to the usage by the project and based
on the running costs and depreciation of the capital item. Valuations may include fee for
access but must not be for the total cost of the resources.
Examples on NSIK include:
o
if a resource has an annual depreciation value of $100,000 and the project was
using 10% of the resource’s capacity then the resource could be valued at
$10,000 per year.
o
if the fee for usage was $500 per use and the project was receiving 100 usages
per year at no cost the value of the resource could be valued at $50,000 per year.
o
if a project is receiving office space as an in-kind contribution from a participant
the contribution could be valued at the amount it would otherwise cost to rent
equivalent office space.
Project Expenditure is how the cash contributions and grant funding is spent. Total project
expenditure must match the sum of participants’ cash contributions and the grant funding
sought. The expenditure must be incurred within the project period and be a direct cost from
the project.
o
Employee – employee expenditure covers direct labour costs of employees who
are employed during the agreed project period on the agreed project.
o
Supplier – contract expenditure is the cost of the agreed project activities that you
contract others to do.
o
Capital – cost of equipment, but not to purchase or pay for the construction of
facilities such as buildings, laboratories etc.
o
Other – other expenditure may include financial auditing of project expenditure,
costs incurred in order to obtain planning, environmental or other regulatory
approvals during the project period, cost of acquiring intellectual property and
technology etc.
The CRC Programme guidelines (clauses 56 to 60), refer to eligible and ineligible
expenditure.
International participants
The form of contribution from international participants can be either cash or in-kind and like
any participant, the contribution should show a collaborative commitment to the proposal.
Funding cannot be spent overseas for the indirect support costs of research. Overseas
expenditure relating to project activities must be consistent with the funding agreement and
significantly improve the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of Australian
industries.
Reimbursement of expenditure
The Commonwealth is not responsible for the reimbursement of any expenditure undertaken
by applicants in developing an application or if a funding agreement is not executed. If you
choose to start your project before a funding agreement is signed, you do so at your own
risk.