Brazil Official Gazette (DOU) Scraper - DOU Monitor

📰 What is the DOU Monitor API?

DOU Monitor is an API and scraper for the Diário Oficial da União (DOU), Brazil's federal Official Gazette. Send keywords, company names or any search term and get every publication from the last 3 days that matches: contracts, tenders, ordinances, appointments, sanctions and regulatory acts, with section, title, summary, issuing agency, edition, page and the official link.

• ✅ Keyword monitoring: up to 30 independent search terms per run.
• ✅ Section filter: DO1 (normative acts), DO2 (personnel acts), DO3 (contracts, tenders and notices) or all sections.
• ✅ Cost control: maxItems caps how many publications each term returns.
• ✅ Exact matches shown: ocorrencias lists the words that actually matched in each publication, so you can filter the results.
• ✅ Official source: data comes straight from the public DOU search by Imprensa Nacional.
• ✅ No login, no captcha, no digital certificate.
• ✅ Daily monitoring: schedule a run every morning and get new publications by webhook, email or spreadsheet.

💼 Use cases

• 🏢 Company mentions: know when your company or a client appears in a federal act.
• 🕵️ Competitive intelligence: track contract awards, tenders and appointments involving competitors.
• ⚠️ Supplier risk: spot fines, sanctions and regulatory actions against partners and suppliers.
• 📜 Regulatory alerts: follow sector keywords (ordinances, resolutions, normative instructions).
• 🔎 Due diligence and compliance: keep critical partners under continuous monitoring.
• 🧾 Procurement teams: catch new tenders and contract extracts in DO3 every day.

🚀 How to use the API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/brasildados~dou-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q":["Petrobras","Vale S.A."],"s":"DO3"}'

Real response (this run returned 46 publications; one is shown below):

[
  {
    "secao": "DO3",
    "data": "16/10/2026",
    "titulo": "AVISO DE LICITAÇÃO",
    "tipo": "Aviso",
    "ocorrencias": ["PETROBRAS"],
    "resumo": "O Edital completo da licitação estará disponível no PORTAL SUPERBID (www.superbid.net) e no site da PETROBRASO DE LICITAÇÃO LEILÃO LICITAÇÃO PARA ALIENAÇÃO DE BÓIA E ESCALA MAGNETROL Edital nº: PEA0424511 A PETRÓLEO BRASILEIRO S.A., por meio da Comissão de Alienação, torna público que realizará Licitação Eletrônica do tipo maior oferta de pre...",
    "url": "https://www.in.gov.br/web/dou/-/aviso-de-licitacao-738787221",
    "edicao": "196",
    "pagina": "106",
    "hierarquia": ["Ministério de Minas e Energia", "Petróleo Brasileiro S.A."],
    "orgao": "Ministério de Minas e Energia/Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.",
    "idPublicacao": "738787223",
    "termoBuscado": "Petrobras"
  }
]

Your API token is in Settings → API & Integrations in the Apify Console. Always send it in the Authorization: Bearer header, never in the URL.

🖱️ From the Console

1. Click Try for free (or Start) at the top of this page.
2. Add your search terms, one per line, and optionally pick a DOU section.
3. Click Start. Results appear in the Output tab, ready to export as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML.

⬇️ Input

Field	Description
q	Required. List of search terms, from 1 to 30 per run. Each term is searched separately. Case-insensitive.
s	Optional. DOU section: todos (all sections, including extra editions; default), DO1 (normative acts: laws, decrees, resolutions, ordinances), DO2 (personnel acts: appointments, dismissals, designations) or DO3 (contracts, tenders, notices and announcements).
maxItems	Optional. Maximum number of publications returned per search term. No limit when omitted.

{
  "q": ["Petrobras", "Vale S.A."],
  "s": "DO3",
  "maxItems": 10
}

⚠️ How the search works: the DOU search matches words, not the exact phrase. A multi-word term can also return publications that contain only part of it. In the run above, "Vale S.A." returned publications where the match was S.A, Vales or válida, besides Vale. Check ocorrencias to keep only the publications that interest you, and prefer specific terms (full company names, CNPJ numbers, process numbers).

⬆️ Output

One record per publication found, per search term. Downloads (JSON, CSV, Excel) and the API always include every field; the views in the Console Output tab only change which columns are shown on screen.

Field	Description
secao	DOU section where the act was published: DO1, DO2, DO3, or an extra edition such as DO1_EXTRA_C
data	Publication date (DD/MM/YYYY)
titulo	Title of the published act (e.g. "AVISO DE LICITAÇÃO")
tipo	Type of act (e.g. Aviso, Portaria, Extrato de Contrato, Edital)
resumo	Excerpt of the act text around the match
url	Official link to the publication on the DOU website
edicao	DOU edition number
pagina	Page number within the edition
hierarquia	List with the organizational hierarchy of the issuing agency, from top to bottom
orgao	Issuing agency or entity, as a single text
idPublicacao	Unique publication ID in the DOU
termoBuscado	Search term from your input that returned this publication
ocorrencias	Words of the search term actually found in the publication, deduplicated (e.g. PETROBRAS)

Data notes:

• The search covers the last 3 days. The DOU is published on business days, so a run on a weekend or holiday returns the latest editions in that window.
• Without maxItems, each term brings every matching publication in the window. Broad terms (e.g. "licitação") can return hundreds of publications.
• Extra editions of the DOU are included when the section is todos, with secao values like DO1_EXTRA_C.
• Texts (titulo, tipo, resumo) are kept in Portuguese, exactly as published.

💰 How much does it cost?

You pay a small fee per run plus a fee per publication returned. Current prices are in the Pricing tab.

🆓 Not charged: terms with no publications in the window. Since every publication is billed, broad terms cost more: use specific terms, the section filter and maxItems to keep the cost under control.

⚖️ Is it legal to scrape the Diário Oficial da União?

Yes. The DOU is the official public gazette of the Brazilian federal government, and its acts are public by nature. Access to public information is guaranteed by the Brazilian Access to Information Law (Lei nº 12.527/2011). This Actor only automates the public DOU search.

🔗 Integrations

• REST API and official Apify clients for JavaScript and Python.
• n8n, Make and Zapier to send new publications to spreadsheets, CRMs or alerts.
• Google Sheets, webhooks and Slack from each run's results.
• Scheduling on Apify for daily monitoring (e.g. cron 0 8 * * *, 08:00 UTC).
• MCP to use the Actor inside AI agents.

Suggested pipeline: DOU Monitor (daily) → CNPJ enrichment → Sanctions check.

❓ FAQ

How do I monitor the Diário Oficial da União by keyword via API?

Call run-sync-get-dataset-items with {"q":["<term>"]} (see How to use the API). You get one record per publication from the last 3 days that matches the term.

How far back does the search go?

The last 3 days of DOU publications. For continuous monitoring, schedule a daily run.

Why did I get publications that don't mention my company?

The DOU search matches words, not the exact phrase, so multi-word terms can match only part of the name. The ocorrencias field shows what actually matched; filter on it and use more specific terms.

Can I monitor several companies in one run?

Yes. Add up to 30 terms in q; each one is searched separately and every result carries termoBuscado.

Which section should I use for contracts and tenders?

Use s: "DO3" for contracts, tenders and procurement notices. DO1 covers normative acts (laws, decrees, resolutions, ordinances) and DO2 personnel acts (appointments, dismissals, designations).

Do I need a login, captcha or digital certificate?

No. The Actor uses the public DOU search.

How do I keep the cost under control?

You pay per publication returned. Set maxItems to cap the publications per term, prefer specific terms and use the section filter. The current prices are in the Pricing tab.

How do I schedule daily monitoring?

In the Apify Console, go to Schedules, create a new schedule (e.g. 0 8 * * *) for this Actor and, optionally, add a webhook to receive the results.

🧩 Other brasildados Actors

• 🏢 Brazil CNPJ Enrichment: enrich the CNPJs mentioned in DOU acts.
• 🚫 Sanctions Check: CEIS/CNEP screening of flagged companies.
• 🧾 Government Contracts Check: contract history of companies found in DO3 extracts.
• 📑 Public Tenders Brazil: full details of the tenders announced in the DOU.

🌐 https://brasildados.org/ · 🛒 All brasildados Actors