Faced with public information that lacks clear, integrated, accessible, and complete formats, Sembrando Sentido created Contratos En Ley (CEL), a digital platform that opens and evaluates public contracting processes in Puerto Rico. We want to make information easier to use, analyze, and monitor to promote sound, competitive, ethical, and efficient use of public resources used.
Our Approach
SearchEngine: Centralizes, integrates, and facilitates data searches of public contracts and contractors. Monitors contracting processes and raises red flags regarding potential risks of corruption.
Evaluator: Examines public contracting processes, including the legal framework, current policies, their implementation, and results. Offers recommendations based on research findings and identified weaknesses.
About the Public Contracts & Contractors Finder
To integrate public data, Sembrando Sentido created an information system that uploads contracting data from the Contract Search page of the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico, and through a series of 'scrapers', and identifies and extracts the data about public contractors from the State Department’s Registry of Corporations and the Election Comptroller’s Registry of Political Donors..
The scrapers use puppeteer , an open-source library, to navigate and extract data. If a single match is found, relevant data is extracted, uploaded, and integrated into our database. If there is more than one match or simply no match is found, the system uses OpenCorporates' OpenRefine Reconciliation API and its algorithms to identify the corporation.
When the system does not identify the corporation, our team manually researches and identifies the match between corporate and individual records. Furthermore, by developing parameters that categorize the entity by type (such as government agencies, corporations, individuals, etc.), our system facilitates analysis. For the matching of Political Donors, the system seeks to match the names of contractors or their officials with the names listed in the corresponding Registry, and if it finds an exact name to the one listed in the Registry (excluding their middle name), the system extracts the information and marks the contractor as a 'Donor' in the database.
Through this process, the system creates a database that integrates and centralizes the data, thus facilitating their presentation and analysis.
Where We Are and Where We Are Going
The beta version of Contracts by the Book is the first phase in fostering more transparent, complete, accessible, and integrated public information. We are currently developing rigorous public procurement evaluations, creating a contract monitor, and expanding the Search Engine so that it can pull decentralized public data from over 56 government portals.
Work is underway to share more information, make it fully public, and standardize it according to the Open Contracting Data Standard. We are also working on an Application Programming Interface (API) for those who request direct access to our database.
Limits to Our Liability
Under no circumstances does the scraper access confidential information, manipulate the data displayed, or seeks to cause any damage to the Public Registries or the data displayed therein. Extracted data originates from and remains as posted in the Public Registries. We are neither the official nor the original source thereof, and the data may contain undetected errors or omissions, as well as errors in data matching.
Thus, we cannot guarantee the quality of the data presented. However, we do provide a mechanism for reporting errors, and we make ourselves available to verify them and to submit corrections when possible . Since we cannot guarantee the quality of the data presented, users decide to consume the data at their own risk.
We are not and shall not be liable for any damages or losses of any kind resulting from the use of the public data presented. Furthermore, although we have a robust security system, we cannot guarantee that our system's servers would be unaffected by viruses or interventions that would impair the data or the Search Engine's continuity at any point in time.
Terms of Use
Our goal is to make information about public contractors and public procurement processes more comprehensive, integrated, and readily available. However, we must ensure that this service continues to be provided for the benefit of all, which is why certain restrictions must be placed on the website's use.
The absence of a robots.txt file does not mean that we allow arbitrary scraping, as this may place an excessive load on our servers. If our system detects suspicious acts, such as hacking attempts or damage created by a user, it may prohibit the use of our Search Engine in certain instances. If you wish to gain direct access to the entire database, please contact: imasses@sembrandosentido.org.
The information in our databases is obtained from government and other sources through a variety of means, including directly from government websites and APIs, to integration of publicly available data or information requests. It takes a great deal of time, effort, and money to obtain this data and turn them into a viable and fully utilizable resource. We do not claim any rights to the data collected from government sources, attributing it whenever possible. We do however claim rights to, and respect for, the evaluations we conduct.
Please cite information from our platform or evaluations when any work is directly supported by the work of Contracts by the Book. Sembrando Sentido's work, through its Contracts by the Book project, is protected by Puerto Rico's intellectual property laws and a Creative CommonsLicense. For any questions or requests, write to us at: imasses@sembrandosentido.org.
Right to Privacy
Sembrando Sentido, through its Contracts by the Book project, will not collect users' personal information unless it is provided voluntarily for the purpose of receiving updates and notifications on our efforts. Nevertheless, we reserve the right to collect any information when unlawful conduct is suspected involving the use of Sembrando Sentido property. We also reserve the right to collect information about users' visits and behavior on our website for statistical purposes.