Circular No. 120/2007/TT-BTC guiding the management, use, and settlement of funds for conducting surveys from state budget-operating funds.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for managing, using, and settling accounts for funds allocated from the state budget for conducting surveys

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Pursuant to Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP dated June 10, 2003 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the State Budget Law;

To manage and use survey funds from the state budget for their intended purposes effectively, the Ministry of Finance issues guidelines for managing, using, and settling accounts for funds allocated from the state budget for conducting surveys as follows:

I. APPLICABLE OBJECTS

1. These guidelines apply to surveys (regular and non-regular) funded from the state budget's recurrent expenditure, assigned by competent authorities in the annual budgets of ministries, sectors, and localities.

2. For surveys funded from construction investment capital and comprehensive surveys organized by

II. CONTENT AND EXPENSE LEVELS

1. Expenses for developing survey plans: Depending on the scale, nature, and volume of indicators of the survey, the unit may be allocated expenses for developing survey plans (from general to detailed) approved by the project leader within the following expense framework: - General outline: from VND 500,000 to VND 1,000,000 per outline; - Detailed outline: from VND 1,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 per outline.

2. Expenses for creating survey forms approved by the project leader: - Up to 30 indicators: VND 500,000 per form. - Over 30 indicators: VND 1,000,000 per form.

3. Professional workshops, soliciting opinions from experts from related fields (if applicable), finalizing the survey plan, contents of the survey form, and reporting survey results: the expense level for each participant is stipulated as follows: - Chairperson: VND 200,000 per session. - Workshop secretary: VND 150,000 per session. - Invited delegates: VND 70,000 per session. - Review and evaluation by critics (if applicable): VND 400,000 per article. - Review and evaluation by council members (if applicable): VND 250,000 per article.

4. Printing of guidance materials, survey forms, templates serving the survey, survey results, and publication of survey publications (if applicable): printing of survey materials shall be carried out under contracts with printing agencies and tendering mechanisms shall be applied to those expenses meeting the conditions stipulated by the bidding laws. The quantity of printed materials must be sufficient to serve participants in the survey and meet management requirements.

5. Travel expenses and training for survey staff: - Travel expenses for civil servants receiving state budget salaries participating in surveys, re-surveys, and inspections. - Training sessions (if necessary) may be organized to instruct survey methods and skills for surveyors. The content and expense levels for travel and training for survey staff shall be implemented according to Circular No. 23/2007/TT-BTC dated March 21, 2007 of the Ministry of Finance regarding travel allowances and regulations on organizing conferences for state agencies and public service units.

6. Transportation costs for survey materials (if applicable), hiring vehicles for staff and surveyors to conduct field surveys: the expense level shall be based on actual transportation rates or transportation contracts.

7. Survey labor costs: - Hiring surveyors, ethnic language interpreters兼任翻译员（如果需要外部聘请）：每人每天的劳务费最高不超过国家规定的当地行政管理区域最低工资标准的200%，按国家规定的当地行政管理区域最低日工资计算。例如：国家规定的最低工资标准为450,000越南盾，每人每天的劳务费最高为：450,000越南盾 ÷ 22天 × 200%。- 聘请向导（不需要翻译）：仅适用于调查地区位于高山或偏远地区，需要当地人员引导调查员的情况。每人每天的劳务费最高不超过国家规定的当地行政管理区域最低工资标准的130%，按国家规定的当地行政管理区域最低日工资计算；（例如：450,000越南盾 ÷ 22天 × 130%）。

8. Expenses for information providers, self-filling survey forms, depending on the indicators in the survey forms, the survey project leader decides on payment for each specific survey as follows: - For individuals: up to 30 indicators is VND 20,000 per form; over 30 indicators is VND 30,000 per form. - For organizations: up to 30 indicators is VND 50,000 per form; over 30 indicators is VND 70,000 per form.

9. Expenses for processing survey results include: building software to process, enter data, and compile survey result data. The content and expense levels are implemented according to current regulations on the standards for electronic information creation under information technology and current regulations on information technology, database construction, and management. If external agencies need to be hired to compile data, a contract must be signed and the procedures for the contract must comply with national regulations.

10. Expenses for hiring experts to analyze and evaluate survey results, the maximum amount is VND 400,000 per report (the number of experts is decided by the competent authority but not exceeding three experts for one survey project).

11. Expenses for writing survey result reports (including data compilation, analysis of survey data): depending on the nature and scale of the survey, the survey project leader decides on payment within the expense range from VND 5,000,000 to VND 12,000,000 per report (including main report and summary report). For specialized analysis reports, the expense range is from VND 2,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 per topic, but the total expense for specialized reports and compilations should not exceed VND 12,000,000 per survey.

12. Expenses for publishing survey results: large-scale surveys can allocate expenses for publishing results through mass media, reporting to functional agencies, or organizing conferences to announce results. The content and expense levels are implemented according to Circular No. 23/2007/TT-BTC dated March 21, 2007 of the Ministry of Finance regarding travel allowances and regulations on organizing conferences for state agencies and public service units.

13. Other expenses directly related to investigation work such as: - Stationery, communication, propaganda: the expenditure level is based on invoices and valid expense vouchers. - Translating materials, compiling foreign materials for investigation purposes; overtime, other expenses: the expenditure level is in accordance with the current regulations of the State.

III. ESTABLISHING BUDGET PROJECTIONS AND SETTLING INVESTIGATION EXPENSES

1. Establishing budget projections for investigations: Based on approved investigation decisions from competent authorities, units assigned the investigation tasks must develop individual investigation budget projections within their annual state budget expenditure plans, submit them to the managing authority for consolidation and submission to the financial authority along with the annual state budget expenditure plan preparation time frame for approval by the competent authority.

2. Based on allocated budget projections and approved investigation budget projections, units directly using investigation funds must allocate the budget together with regular expenditure budgets to the managing authority for consolidation and submission to the Ministry of Finance for review before December 31 each year. After receiving written agreement from the Ministry of Finance, the managing authorities issue budget allocation decisions to the units and send them to the financial authority and the State Treasury where transactions take place for coordinated implementation.

3. The use and settlement of investigation expenses shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law, the Accounting Law, and implementing regulations. In cases where external units are hired for investigation, the leading agency responsible for the investigation signs an investigation contract. Supporting documents for settlement and finalization are retained at the leading investigation agency including: Contract for performing the task (accompanied by detailed budget approved by the leading investigation agency), acceptance certificate, contract termination record, payment authorization or payment voucher, and other relevant documents. Specific expense vouchers are kept by the direct investigation agency according to current regulations. At the end of the year, the unit consolidates the investigation expense settlement into the annual budget settlement of the agency or unit and reports on project implementation status and investigation expense usage to the higher-level managing authority and the financial authority. The higher-level managing authority conducts a comprehensive review of the investigation results or reviews the results of each phase (for investigations conducted over multiple years), and informs the financial authority at the same level to serve as the basis for approving the investigation expense settlement and the next year's investigation budget (if applicable). At the end of the year, if the investigation has not concluded according to the approved plan, the remaining budget and advance payments are transferred to the following year for use and settlement; if the investigation has concluded and there is unused funding, the unit must remit it to the state budget.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

1. This Circular takes effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette and replaces Circular No. 114/2000/TT-BTC dated November 27, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the management of investigation expenses from state budget sources for public services and Circular No. 65/2003/TT-BTC dated July 2, 2003 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the management of statistical investigation expenses from state budget sources.

2. Based on actual circumstances and within the scope of this Circular’s expenditure levels, ministries, central agencies, provincial People's Committees, and centrally-administered city People's Committees shall establish specific expenditure levels for uniform implementation within their respective ministries, central agencies, and localities.

3. During implementation, if any issues arise, they should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance for study and resolution./.