On the 27th, the website of the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the revised "Management Measures for National Key R&D Program Funds" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"). The Measures stipulate that key research and development plans should raise funds in a diversified manner, with funding sources divided into central government funds and other sources of funds. Other sources of funds include local government funds, self raised funds by units, financial capital, and other social funds. The Measures mainly regulate the management and use of key R&D program funds arranged by the central government through pre subsidy support, including general provisions, management of key special budget, scope of project fund expenditure, project budget preparation and approval, project budget execution and adjustment, comprehensive performance evaluation of projects, supervision and inspection, and supplementary provisions. This document jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology specifies that key research and development plans are managed at different levels according to key projects and special projects. Key projects are the carriers for organizing and implementing key R&D plans, and projects are the basic units for implementing key projects. A certain number of topics can be set up as needed. Key special projects are subject to preliminary budget management, while projects are subject to budget management. At the same time, the key R&D program funds are subject to graded management and graded responsibility. The Ministry of Finance has established a central government funding review and management mechanism for key research and development programs, responsible for the overall budget management of key special projects; The Ministry of Science and Technology coordinates the layout and resource allocation of relevant key special tasks, and is responsible for the supervision, evaluation, dynamic adjustment, and overall acceptance evaluation of key special funds; The main responsible unit is responsible for the management of key special funds that it is responsible for organizing and implementing. It entrusts and guides professional institutions to carry out specific management work such as project fund allocation, disbursement, and process supervision, and supervises the management and use of funds by professional institutions and undertaking units (including project undertaking units, project undertaking units, and project participating units, the same below). According to the Measures, central government funds should focus on key research and development tasks, and support public scientific and technological activities where market mechanisms cannot effectively allocate resources, in order to avoid scattered and repetitive financial arrangements. For projects that aim to commercialize, engineer, and industrialize scientific and technological achievements, and have quantitative assessment indicators, post subsidy support should be adopted in principle. The key special project funds consist of direct and indirect costs. The Measures emphasize that indirect costs shall be arranged and used by the responsible units in a coordinated manner. The undertaking unit can use all indirect costs for performance expenditures and tilt towards teams and individuals with outstanding innovation performance. It is worth noting that key R&D plans can adopt a budget contracting management approach based on project characteristics, which will be clearly defined by the responsible unit in the project application guidelines. For projects implementing a lump sum funding system, the project applicant should apply for funding quotas based on scientific, reasonable, standardized, and effective principles, without the need to prepare specific project budgets. The Measures require that the undertaking unit shall fully implement the system of scientific research financial assistant. Each project should be equipped with a relatively fixed research finance assistant, who should provide professional services for researchers to prepare and adjust project budgets, reimburse funds, and conduct comprehensive project performance evaluations. Regarding the comprehensive performance evaluation of projects, the "Measures" clearly stipulate that the undertaking units with outstanding innovation ability and potential, significant innovation performance, and good scientific research integrity can no longer conduct final financial audits after being recognized according to procedures. The project fund settlement report issued by them shall serve as the basis for the comprehensive performance evaluation of the project. The responsible unit shall be responsible for the authenticity, completeness, and accuracy of the content of the final settlement report, and professional institutions shall organize spot checks in a timely manner. The Measures also mention that the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the responsible units, and professional institutions should establish and improve a fund supervision and management mechanism covering the entire process of fund management and use according to their responsibilities and division of labor. At the same time, strengthen the coordination and integration of audit supervision, financial supervision, and daily supervision, and enhance the synergy of supervision; Strengthen information sharing, avoid cross duplication, and reduce the burden on researchers. (New Society)