Joint Circular No. 35/2004/TTLT-BTC-BGDDT dated April 26, 2004 of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Training and Education guiding the financial management mechanism and spending levels of the project on primary education for disadvantaged children

JOINT CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT MECHANISM AND SPENDING LEVELS OF THE PROJECT ON PRIMARY EDUCATION FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

TF051873 of July 14, 2003 between the Vietnamese Government and the International Development Association on financial assistance to the Project on Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 17/2001/ND-CP of May 4, 2001 promulgating the Regulation on Management and Use of Official Development Assistance (ODA) sources;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 52/1999/ND-CP of July 8, 1999 promulgating the Regulation on Investment and Construction Management; Decree No. 12/2000/ND-CP of May 5, 2000 and Decree No. 07/ND-CP of January 30, 2003 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulation on Investment and Construction Management, issued together with Decree No. 52/1999/ND-CP of July 8, 1999;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister's Decision No. 244/QD-TTg of March 5, 2003 approving the feasibility study report of the Project on primary education for disadvantaged children;

Pursuant to the Finance Minister's Decision No. 112/2001/QD-BTC of November 9, 2001 promulgating a number of spending norms applicable to projects financed with ODA loans;

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Training hereby jointly guide the financial management mechanism and spending levels of the Project on primary education for disadvantaged children as follows:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. The Ministry of Education and Training shall have the responsibility to manage the Project on primary education for disadvantaged children, ensuring the use of capital for the right purposes and in accordance with contents of the approved project and the commitments with the donors and the relevant legal documents; the Board for Coordination of the Project on primary education for disadvantaged children (hereinafter called the Project Coordination Board for short) shall have to coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches as well as provinces joining in the project in implementing and coordinating activities of the Project.

The Ministry of Education and Training shall coordinate with localities benefiting from the project in determining investors for component sub-projects.

2. The project's capital sources

Funding for implementation of the Project on primary education for disadvantaged children shall include:

- Capital borrowed from the World Bank (WB);

- Non-refundable aids in form of multilateral trust fund administered by the World Bank, including sources of aid of the Governments of Australia (through AusAID); Canada (through CIDA); the Kingdom of Norway (through NORAD); the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland (through DFID);

- The reciprocal capital of the central budget (split up into capital construction capital source and non-business administrative capital source);

All the capital borrowed from WB, the non-refundable aid of different Governments and the reciprocal capital shall be allocated from the Central Budget to the Ministry of Education and Training for execution of the project according to the Prime Ministers approval.

3. The management principles

3.1. The Central Project Coordination Board set up under decision of the Minister of Education and Training shall have the responsibility to manage the expenditures and carry out procedures to withdraw capital for payment to the project activities performed by

3.2. The provincial Project Coordination Boards set up by decisions of the provincial Peoples Committees shall have the responsibility to organize activities in the localities, carry out procedures for reciprocal capital payment at the State Treasuries in the provinces and request the Central Project Coordination Board to disburse the borrowed capital and aid strictly according to the procedures of Vietnam and the donors. The district Project Coordination Boards set up by decisions of the provincial Services of Education and Training shall have the responsibility to carry out activities at the district level under authorization of the provinces and carry out procedures for payment with the provincial Project Coordination Boards.

3.3. The reciprocal capital sources for project activities in the provinces shall be distributed from the project's budget and notified to the State Treasuries in the localities by the Ministry of Education and Training. The reciprocal capital sources shall include capital construction capital and non-business administrative capital.

3.4. The State Treasury (for the Central Project Coordination Board) and the State Treasuries in the provinces covered by the project shall control the payment of the investment capital and non-business administrative capital of the project according to the current regulations on payment control. The State Treasury's certification on written requests for advance, the volume payment rate cards/ the payments list (hereinafter called the price ticket for short) must clearly identify the reciprocal capital amount and WB capital or aid strictly according to the donation percentage prescribed in the Loan Agreement or Aid Agreement. The rate cards containing certification of the State Treasury constitute evidence in the dossiers for withdrawal of WB and aid capital and payment of reciprocal capital amount from the budget.

3.5. The Vietnam Bank for Investment and Development is the bank serving the project, which shall coordinate with the Central Project Coordination Board in carrying out the procedures for capital withdrawal and payment of WB/aid capital sources according to the regulations in this Circular and enjoy service charge rates suitable to Vietnam State Bank's regulations on via-bank payment service charges. The above-said service charges shall be paid from the amounts of interest on the balance of the special account and calculated into the total investment of the project. Where the amounts of interest on the balance of the special accounts are not enough, the deficit shall be paid from the reciprocal capital source of the project. The interests on the balance of the special accounts shall be accounted separately every month for monitoring. Upon the completion of the project, the interest amount arising from the special accounts shall be transferred for payment to the State budget into the account number as guided by the Finance Ministry.

4. Determination of spending tasks

The determination of spending tasks shall be based on the principles already prescribed in the Credit Agreement and the Non-Refundable Aid Agreement as well as the Prime Minister's Decision No. 244/QD-TTg of March 5, 2003.

4.1. Capital construction capital (WB loan capital/reciprocal capital)

- Expenditures on construction of school and school spot material foundations, supervisory consultancy, procurement of school wood furniture;

4.2. The non-business administrative capital:

+ WB loan capital/reciprocal capital:

- Spent on purchase of materials, equipment, instruments in service of teaching and learning.

+ Non-refundable aid/reciprocal capital:

- Expenditures on purchase of goods: Equipment, machinery, office wood furniture, transport means and equipment in support of handicapped children.

- Expenditures in support of school/school spot and other support amounts.

- Expenditures on local and foreign consultancy.

- Expenditures on seminar/drill/training/fostering of teachers at home and abroad.

- Expenditures in support of activities of organizing the implementation and management of the project.

- Expenses for regular activities of the Project Coordination Boards: house rent, stationery, payment for electricity and water, communications, working-trip allowances

- Expenditure on wages, wage allowances for personnel on the State payroll participating in the management and administration of the project; payment of wages to personnel working under long-term and short-term contracts: car drivers, security personnel, service staff...

The use of capital sources of the project for spending on the above-mentioned tasks shall comply with the donation rates prescribed in the Credit Agreement and the Non-Refundable Aid Agreement.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1. Opening accounts:

1.1. The Central Project Coordination Board shall open a special WB loan capital account and a special aid capital account (in USD) at Vietnam Bank for Investment and Development to receive loan capital/aid capital and pay for the project activities.

1.2. The provincial Project Coordination Boards shall open deposit accounts at branches of the Bank for Investment and Development in the localities to receive advance capital from the Central Project Coordination Board for activities in the localities.

1.3. The Central Project Coordination Board shall open an allocation account at the State Treasury and the provincial Project Coordination Boards shall open allocation accounts at the provincial State Treasuries of their transactions to receive and pay reciprocal capital.

2. Capital plan making and notification:

2.1. In early July every year, the Central Project Coordination Board shall guide the provincial Project Coordination Boards in making capital plans of the project, including sources of WB capital, aid and reciprocal capital according to regulations; synthesize the annually implemented plans of the entire project for submission to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance and the donors. The contents of the financial plans must fully express the project's capital sources with details according to work items, and at the same time be enclosed with the content explanation/financial plan elucidation suitable with the detail work plan of the project. The financial plan of the entire project shall be synthesized into the common budget plan of the Ministry of Education and Training for submission to the Government, the National Assembly for approval according to the current regulations.

2.2. After being assigned the annual financial plan by the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall notify the distribution of the project's investment capital amount (including loan capital and reciprocal capital); the Ministry of Finance shall notify the project's non-business administrative amount (including loan capital, aid capital and reciprocal capital) to the Ministry of Education and Training. The Ministry of Education and Training shall have the responsibility to distribute these capital sources to the Central Project Coordination Board and the provincial Project Coordination Boards, at the same time send reports thereon to the Ministry of Finance for the latter to notify the plans on investment capital and non-business administrative capital of the project to the State Treasury. The State Treasury shall notify the annual plan to the provincial State Treasuries (where investors open accounts) for use as basis for capital control, certification and payment.

2.3. Basing themselves on the project's notified financial plan, the Central Project Coordination Board and the provincial Project Coordination Boards shall formulate the whole year's spending plans divided for quarters and send them to the State Treasuries of their transactions and organize the implementation of the approved budget plans.

3. The process of controlling the reciprocal capital spending and payment:

3.1. Dossiers and materials supplied at a time:

To carry out procedures for controlling the spending and payment of domestic reciprocal capital sources and the withdrawl of foreign capital of the project, the Central Project Coordination Board shall send all together at a time to the Ministry of Finance (the External Finance Department, the State Treasury) and the provincial Project Coordination Boards shall send to the State Treasuries of their transactions, the following documents:

- The feasibility study report on the project on primary education for disadvantaged children and the Prime Minister's written approval.

- The copy of the Credit Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Government and the WB (Loan 3752-VN);

- The multilateral trust fund non-refundable aid agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Government and the WB on the entrusted aid amounts of the foreign Governments;

- The annual capital plans assigned by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance (for the Central Project Coordination Board) and the annual capital plan allocation assigned by the Ministry of Education and Training (for the Central Project Coordination Board and the provincial Project Coordination Boards);

- The investment report enclosed with the decision on investment, decisions approving the technical design, total estimates of the competent authorities (in cases where investment reports must be made);

- Bid dossiers;

- Decisions approving the bidding results or decisions appointing contractors approved by competent authorities;

- Economic contracts with contractors;

- Competent authorities' decisions approving contents of the economic contracts (in case of foreign contractors) and the WB's written consent on the contractual contents (in cases where the contracts require the WB's prior opinions);

- The cost estimates of items, enclosed with the approving decisions of competent authorities;

- The contract performance guarantee (if any).

3.2. Control and payment through the State Treasury system:

3.2.1. Dossiers and process of controlling expenditures:

a) Bases for controlling expenditures at the State Treasury for capital construction expenditure components:

- The Government's Decree No. 88/1999/ND-CP of September 1, 1999 on Bidding Regulation; Decree No. 14/2000/ND-CP of May 5, 2000 amending a number of articles of Decree No. 88/1999/ND-CP; Decree No. 66/2003/ND-CP of June 12, 2003 amending and supplementing the Bidding Regulation; the Planning and Investment Ministry's Circular No. 01/2004/TT-BKH of February 2, 2004 guiding the implementation of Decree No. 66/2003/ND-CP.

- The Investment and Construction Management Regulation promulgated together with the Government's Decree No. 52/1999/ND-CP of July 8, 1999; Decree No. 12/2000/ND-CP of May 5, 2000 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Investment and Construction Management Regulation promulgated together with the Government's Decree No. 52/1999/ND-CP of July 8, 1999; Decree No. 07/2003/ND-CP of January 30, 2003 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Investment and Construction Management Regulation promulgated together with the Government's Decree No. 52/1999/ND-CP of July 8, 1999 and Decree No. 12/2000/ND-CP of May 5, 2000.

- The circulars issued by ministries according to their respective competence, guiding the implementation of the Investment and Construction Management Regulation.

- The Finance Ministry's Circular No. 44/2003/TT-BTC of May 15, 2003 guiding the management and payment of investment capital and non-business capital of investment and construction nature, which belong to the State budget capital sources or documents amending, supplementing or replacing this Circular.

- The process of controlling and paying domestic investment capital and non-business capital of investment and construction nature through the State Treasury system, promulgated together with Decision No. 601/KB/QD/TTVDT of October 28, 2003; the process of controlling and paying foreign investment capital, promulgated together with Decision No. 602/KB/QD/TTVDT of October 28, 2003 of the general director of the State Treasury.

b) Bases, dossiers and process of controlling expenditures for non-business administrative spending components:

+ The Central Project Coordination Board shall have to settle its own activities, including activities of authorizing the localities to make and synthesize settlement of the entire project and send the settlement to the Ministry of Education and Training. The Ministry of Education and Training shall approve the project settlement and synthesize it into its budget settlement for sending to the Finance Ministry.

- The procedures for making, appraising, approving the settlement of investment capital and other matters related thereto shall comply with the provisions in Circular No. 45/2003/TT-BTC of May 15, 2003 of the Finance Ministry, guiding the settlement of investment capital or other documents supplementing, amending or replacing the above-said circular.

- Bases for settlement of non-business administrative capital:

+ For spending operations having arisen before January 1, 2004, they shall comply with the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 21/2000/TT-BTC of March 16, 2000 guiding the consideration, approval, appraisal and notification of annual settlement for non-business administrative units.

+ For spending operations having arisen after January 1, 2004, they shall comply with the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 10/2004/TT-BTC of February 19, 2004 guiding the consideration, approval, appraisal and notification of annual settlement for administrative agencies, non-business units and budgets of different levels.

III. PROVISIONS ON SPENDING LEVELS OF THE PROJECT

1. Spending on conferences, seminars, and training courses in the country:

- The Project Coordination Boards shall assume the prime responsibility for organizing and guiding the project-participating provinces to organize conferences, seminars, and/or training courses in the country, which need to make detailed estimates comprising the number of participants, time and venue, the spending levels suitable to the project execution requirements and the provisions in the Credit Agreement and/or the Non-Refundable Aid Agreement. The duration of a conference, seminar shall not exceed 3 days, of a training course shall not exceed 10 days. The spending levels for training courses of more than 10 days and domestic training courses shall comply with the contracts between the training establish-ments and the project, with the approval of the Ministry of Education and Training.

- The spending levels for training activities and seminars from the borrowed capital sources shall comply with Article 5 of Decision No. 112/2001/QD-BTC of November 9, 2001 of the Finance Minister promulgating a number of spending norms applicable to projects financed with the ODA loan capital.

- The spending levels for training activities and seminars from non-refundable aid capital sources shall comply with the provisions in Circular No. 70/2001/TT/BTC of August 24, 2001 of the Finance Ministry guiding the State finance management regime for non-refundable aid source and the norms prescribed in this Circular.

2. Expenditures on purchase of teachers' manuals, documents in support of teaching: Textbooks and learning stuff of pupils, the spending levels shall be based on the surface prices of the publications.

For textbooks, teaching manuals and learning stuff for pupils of ethnic minority and handicapped children, which are not available, the compilation and distribution thereof shall be organized. The spending levels for specific contents shall comply with the Joint Circular No. 81/2003/TTLT/BGDDT-TC of August 14, 2003 of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Finance prescribing the contents and levels of expenditures for the national target programs on education and training till 2005.

3. Translation spending levels:

To comply with the Finance Minister's Decision No. 112/2001/QD-BTC of November 9, 2001 promulgating a number of spending norms applicable to projects financed with the ODA loan capital, concretely as follows:

a) Written translation:

- Translation from a foreign language into Vietnamese: not more than VND 35,000/a page of 300 words.

- Translation from Vietnamese into a foreign language: not more than VND 40,000/a page of 300 words:

b) Interpretation:

- Ordinary interpretation: not more than VND 70,000/hour/person, equivalent to not more than VND 560,000/day/person working for 8 hours.

- Simultaneous interpretation: not more than VND 150,000/hour/person, equivalent to not more than VND 1,200,000/day/person working for 8 hours.

The above-mentioned written translation and interpretation spending levels shall apply only to necessary cases where the project must hire translators, interpreters from the outside, not apply to translators, interpreters being staff members of the project.

4. Expenditures on seminars, short-term trainings overseas:

The spending levels for officials attending seminars, short-term training courses overseas shall comply with the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 45/1999/TT-BTC of May 4, 1999 prescribing the working trip allowance regime for officials and State employees on short-term working trips overseas and Circular No. 108/1999/TT-BTC of September 4, 1999 guiding and supplementing a number of points of Circular No. 45/1999/TT-BTC.

5. Expenditures on extra-hour work: To comply with the regulations of the Labor Code.

6. The package expenditure levels for use of mobile phones shall be as follows:

- For the heads of the Project Coordination Boards: It shall not exceed VND 300,000/month.

- For project assistant: It shall not exceed VND 200,000/month.

7. The monthly package working trip allowance levels for project staff members who have to frequently use their personal traffic means for working transactions shall not exceed VND 100,000/month/person.

8. Other activities: The heads of the Project Coordination Boards shall submit to the Ministry of Education and Training for decision forms of work performance (work-based contracts, time-based contracts, package contracts...) and the spending level for each job shall be based on the contents and complicacy of the job and the funding capability of the project on the principle of thrift and efficiency.

9. Expenditures on wages for domestic and foreign specialists:

Wages of domestic and foreign specialists shall be paid from the source of non-refundable aid of the project. The wages of domestic specialists shall be paid monthly and converted into Vietnam dong, concretely as follows:

a) Foreign specialists' wages: Based on the selection criteria adopted by the World Bank, the wages and other regimes such as travel allowances, accommodation and meals, income tax... of foreign specialists shall be paid on the basis of contracts signed between the heads of Project Coordination Boards and the specialists.

b) Payment of wages to domestic specialists of the Central Project Coordination Board: (domestic consultants recruited for working positions prescribed in the Agreement; the process of recruitment in compliance with the guidance of the World Bank, donors and the Vietnamese Government). Depending on the professional qualifications, complicacy, working intensity... for each position to be held by domestic consultant, the heads of the Project Coordination Boards shall propose the project manager to decide on the following wage levels for consultants:

- Level 1: Between USD 250/person/month and under USD 450/person/month.

- Level 2: Between USD 450/person/month and under USD 600/person/month.

- Level 3: Between USD 600/person/month and under US D800/person/month.

- Level 4: Between USD 800/person/month and under USD 1,000/person/month.

- Level 5: Between USD 1,000/person/month and USD 1,300/person/month.

c) Payment of wages to contractual laborers of the Central Project Coordination Board (contractual laborers performing specific jobs): Based on each specific working position, the heads of the Project Coordination Boards shall propose the project manager to decide on the following wage levels for contractual laborers:

- Level 1: Between USD100/person/month and under USD200/person/month.

- Level 2: Between USD200/person/month and under USD250/person/month.

- Level 3: Between USD 250/person/month and USD 400/person/month.

d) Payment of wages to domestic specialists assisting the provincial or district-level Project Coordination Boards:

Based on the selection criteria and the guidance of the World Bank and the Central Project Coordination Board, each provincial/district Project Coordination Board may recruit domestic specialists with the following wage levels:

- 01 domestic specialist on procurement, bidding of the provincial Project Coordination Boards: USD 200/month.

- 01 domestic specialist on construction and planning management and 01 domestic specialist on community development of the district Project Coordination Boards: USD 150/person/month.

10. Allowances for officials of the Project Coordination Boards of all levels: Officials on the payrolls of non-business administrative agencies of the State, who are transferred to work at the Central Project Coordination Board or the provincial/district Project Coordination Boards shall enjoy monthly allowances under Article 1 of the Regulation on a number of spending norms applicable to projects financed with the ODA loan capital, promulgated together with the Finance Ministers Decision No. 112/2001/QD-BTC of November 9, 2001. These allowances shall be paid from the source of reciprocal capital of the project.

IV. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

The Ministry of Education and Training, the Finance Ministry, the localities benefiting from the project, and Vietnam Bank for Investment and Development shall have to implement this Joint Circular.

The funding amounts already advanced or borrowed for expenditures from the time the project takes effect till the effective time of this Joint Circular are allowed to be repaid according to the specific spending levels prescribed in this Joint Circular.

Any problems and difficulties arising in the course of implementation shall be reported to the two ministries for consideration and solution.