siconvr

siconvr is an R package designed to fetch and clean data on federal targeted transfers in Brazil from Plataforma +Brasil (previously SICONV). With siconvr, obtaining data on available policy programs maintained by the Brazilian Federal Government, proposals submitted by local governments, and NGOs to apply for such funds, among many others, takes a few seconds.

Installing

Install the package from CRAN using:

install.packages("siconvr")

To install the package’s development version, use:

if(!require(remotes)) install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("meirelesff/siconvr")

Then load it with:

library(siconvr)

How to use

Using siconvr to fetch data from Plataforma +Brasil is easy: pass the type of data you want to the get_siconv function and you are ready to go. Here’s an example:

progs <- get_siconv("programas")

Available datasets

Here a list of available datasets one can fetch using siconvr:

Option	Data
programas	data on available programs maintained by the Federal Government
programas_propostas	keys to match programs and proposals submitted to the Federal Government
propostas	data on proposals submitted to the Federal Government
convenios	data on proposals effectively accepted situation and amount transferred by the Federal Government
pagamento	data on payments to local providers
emendas	data on federal budget amendments made by Brazilian Federal Deputies and Senators, amount transferred and the transference recipient;
planos	data on application plans submitted to the Federal Government. This document includes all goods, services and works required by the covenant to accomplish the project
empenhos	data on transfers which the Federal Government has reserved its budget to pay the covenant when the project ends
desembolsos	data on transfers disbursements by the Federal Government
obtv	data on payments made to local suppliers and contractors hired to execute funded projects
historico	proposals’ track record
ingresso_contrapartida	record of counterpart payments
aditivos	data on contracts’ budget addendums
crono_metas	project’s goals timeline
cronogramas	project’s execution timeline
consorcios	data on proposals where multiple local governments or private entities cooperate to request federal resources
empenhos_desembolsos	keys to match appropriations and disbursements by Federal Government
proponentes	data on proposals’ proponents
cronograma_desembolsos	project’s transfers disbursements timeline
justificativas	proposals’ justifications

Schema

It also possible to check Plataforma +Brasil’s database official documentation – which includes the database diagram and schema, additional information on tables and variables, primary keys, among others – by using this:

show_schema()

show_schema will extract, read, and open in a web browser the database’s docs. Files are saved in the working directory, so one doesn’t need to download them again (to just download the docs, set the argument browser to FALSE).

Options

By default, get_siconv tries to read fetched data using UTF-8 encoding. In case this does not work for you, use the argument encoding to change that:

emp <- get_siconv("empenhos", encoding = "latin-1")

To save Plataforma +Brasil server resources, get_siconv stores a cache of fetched data in a folder in working directory named cache – so you don’t need to download the same data again. To avoid cacheing date, set cache to FALSE:

obtv <- get_siconv("obtv", cache = FALSE)

Finally, one might also want to avoid get_siconv’s messages when fetching data. This can be done with:

historico <- get_siconv("historico", verbose = FALSE)

Note

Since version 0.0.2, siconvr fetches data from antigo.plataformamaisbrasil.gov.br. As the Brazilian Ministry of Economy changed its website, old content was moved to this new subdomain.

Contributing

We welcome any help to improve siconvr. In case you wish to contribute with code, use GitHub Pull Requests – we will be more than happy to acknowledge any assistance by updating our authors’ list. Bug reports and suggestions can be done via GitHub issues.

Disclaimer

siconvr does not maintain or update Plataforma +Brasil’s database, nor does it change or alter fetched data. Therefore, the authors hold no responsability for its uses or results.

In case you want to dive deeper into Plataforma +Brasil’s sources and update policy, please check the following official sources:

• Official website

• SICONV’s working plan

• Guide for Delivering Programs

• Financial Guide

Authors

Fernando Meireles e Marcus Vinícius de Sá Torres