Researchers fume as facility funding lags

Frustration is mounting for bioscience research facilities facing delays in grants promised under the $150 million Major National Research Facility scheme.

The government appears hard-pressed to find funds for the initial phase of the five-year MNRF program.

The 15 institutes who won grants last September have been asked three times in the last seven months to downsize their budget requests and business plans for the first few years of the scheme.

While not reneging on the $150 million as a total contribution, the government has put a heavy back-end loading on the program. It initially planned to distribute only $3.5 million in the first year and has locked up nearly $100 million in years four and five.

Among successful applicants, that approach is causing grief to existing organisations and those intending to use the grants to start greenfield sites.

"The most frustrating thing was to see such an exciting program on offer which had such a small proportion allocated to its first few years," said Dr Susan Forrest, scientific director of the Australian Genome Research Facility.

"We could not believe anyone who wants to support science infrastructure could budget that way."

Although disappointed with the outcome to date, Forrest said facilities have been kept well-informed about the problem by the government managers of the MNRF program.

The AGRF is one of six bioscience facilities in the current MNRF round. It was awarded $14 million to upgrade equipment and expand its programs over the next five years.

"The early frustration and disappointment has turned into a feeling of having to make the best of what is available," said Forrest.

What's available is still the subject of negotiation. Hopes that extra money for the program's initial years might be found in the Federal Budget brought down earlier this month have been dashed.

It is understood a $10 million shortfall still exists between what is on offer for the early years of the program and what the facilities believe are the minimum requirements.

One scenario reportedly being canvassed by the government is to time-shift and shrink the scheme by starting it a year later and running it for only four years.

The MNRF delays are also affecting the most significant provider of proteome analysis services to the bioscience industry, the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility.

Founded by a $6 million MNRF grant in 1996, APAF was awarded $16.5 million last September, more than any other bioscience applicant.

It has collaborated with 200 biotech research organisations and companies and has about 45 projects underway at present and last year earned $1.5 million in revenue, says director Prof Gary Cobon.

Without the grant money, however, it can neither afford to update ageing equipment nor expand staff numbers beyond its present 15 full-time and part-time employees.

The delay has also hamstrung Cobon's ability to make commercial commitments to potential partners.

Macquarie University has stepped in to fill operations shortfalls on a month-to-month basis, but APAF's pressing need for new mass spectrometer and IT equipment won't be addressed until the grant situation is clarified, Cobon says.

The 45-staff AGRF, which has nodes in Melbourne and Brisbane, can cover operating expenses such as consumables and salaries from its current revenues. However it can't cover equipment upgrades and AGRF has put off the acquisition of big ticket items such as a $500,000 sequencing device. It is also considering leasing in future rather than purchasing.

On a national scale, there has been a funding shift toward large communal efforts such as centres of excellence which may be contributing to the MNRF shortfall.

Until those centres are up and running, facilities such as the AGRF will be able to meet current bioindustry demand by running at close to full capacity despite equipment that is becoming increasingly outdated, says the AGRF's Forrest.

"We may miss out on a couple of large projects because we can't expand in the way we had hoped, but otherwise we can ride the wave for the next 12 months while (the new large Cooperative Research Centres) ramp up," she said.

When demand from those centres kicks in, however, AGRF will find it difficult to open the window of opportunity because of the repercussions from the current funding confusion.

Comment from Science Minister Peter McGauran's office, which is responsible for the MNRF program, was sought but not received before press time.