Instructions for full cost estimate – grant-funded projects
1. General information about grant-funded projects and the estimate
1.1 Full expense coverage
The government has decided on partially new conditions for the acquisition and use of grants from both state and non-state financers by Swedish universities.
As stated in the appropriation directions for the budget year of 2010, universities and other higher education institutions are to operate under the assumption that when other government bodies contribute funding to research projects, the funding shall follow the same ratio of direct to indirect expenses as the cost estimate for the project as a whole. This means that any given sum a state financier contributes shall include the same proportion of indirect costs as the university’s own cost estimate. If the financier reduces the grant in question, both the direct and indirect costs are to be reduced by the same proportion.
Furthermore, the appropriation directions state that this also shall apply to grants from foundations and other legal entities that have been created with government funding, and as far as possible also non-government financiers.
According to the appropriation directions, the indirect costs shall be estimated based on the model created by the Association of Swedish Higher Education and external financiers. Uppsala University applies this model starting from the budget year of 2009.
Finally, the appropriation directions establish that allocated grants may be used for the joint funding of projects or equivalent activities that fall within the government body’s remit, as long as there is no discord with the purpose of the grants.
1.2 General information about the cost estimate
The estimate template is a tool designed to assist in calculating the costs of a grant as part of an application to the grantor. Note that the grant estimate template is not to be used for EU assignments or commissioned activities, as there are separate estimates available for these types of assignments.
Due to the fact that percentages for employee benefits and holiday pay varies over time, the estimate template is updated every year. Despite this, the calculation may be used for projects that span multiple years.
Expenses related to salaries (LBK), 49.0% as of 2017-01-01, are the payroll taxes and such that are debited from direct salaries. Holiday pay is paid out whenever an employee goes on holiday leave. Holiday pay is currently an average of 1.2 percent of the direct salary. LBK is added on to the holiday compensation which results in a surcharge of around 1.9%. Holiday pay and LBK are automatically included in the estimate based on the salary costs that have been inputted.
The University’s allocation basis for indirect expenses are personnel and operating costs. This basis may also be used for distributing facility costs.
The green cells are manually entered on the grant estimate template, while the white cells are formulas that automatically calculate costs based on the inputted sums.
2. Parts of the estimate
2.1 Information about the project
The estimate shall include information about the project, such as project title, the estimated duration of the project, project manager as well as the author of the estimate.
2.2 Direct costs
Direct costs refer to costs that can be tied directly to the project such as salaries, materials, travel, equipment and such.
2.3 Salary costs
Monthly salary refers to the pre-tax salaries of the participants. The fields for salaries may also be used to input remuneration. Salaries/remuneration may be entered by inputting the number of months or hours the project participants will spend on the project and their monthly or hourly wages. If, on the other hand, the total salary is to be entered, a 1 is inputted in the column referring to amount of months and the total salary is entered in the column for Salary/month.
2.4 Other operating costs
This section is used to enter other costs of the project such as travel, chemicals, consultants etc. All amounts are to be entered without VAT factored in.
2.5 Costs for facility assets (equipment)
Procurement costs excluding VAT for the purchase of facility assets are inputted in this section.
2.6 Facility costs (internhyra)
The project shall bear the direct facility costs and there are two available options. For some projects, combining alt 1 (the main method) and alt 2 may be prudent.
Main method (Alt 1): In the estimate, the facility costs are based on the de facto space used by the project. The project pays for the square metres at the disposal of the project according to current costs per square metre. This method of calculating facility costs is usually the one that produces the most accurate facility costs for the project.
Alt 2: This method of calculating facility costs means that the department has established a percentage-based surcharge on the allocation basis (personnel and operating costs) for the allocation of the total facility costs of the department’s core activities. Input the established percentage.
2.7 Indirect costs
The project must also contribute its share to University- and faculty-wide costs such as libraries, computer networks, administration, as well as department-wide costs such as the head of department’s salary, technical and administrative personnel, copying machines and such. These costs are considered indirect costs as they are not directly tied to the project.
Here, the percentage decided by the department is entered for surcharging of the direct costs. This percentage shall be updated on an annual basis by the department.
2.8 Project funding
If the total costs of the project should exceed the projected grant from the grantor, additional funding must be provided in order for the original project to be completed. Therefore, this sections calculates the project’s need for additional funding.
2.9 Estimate approved by the head of department
The head of department is entrusted with the department’s aggregate finances, which means that the head of department has the final say in grant applications and the authorisation of additional funding (if needed). Therefore, the estimate must be reviewed by the head of department or the department’s financial administrator and approved by the head of department.