The Jair Bolsonaro government promises next Monday to restore access to research systems that are currently out of order (2). The platforms Lattes and Carlos Chagas have been down since last Friday (23) due to a failure in the technology area.
The CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) is responsible for both systems and is responsible for promoting research in the country. The agency is affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
According to CNPq, the transfer of the data backup from the Lattes platform to a new server has already been completed. The agency guarantees the integrity of all information.
“The recovery of the devices that caused problems operationalizing the applications is ongoing. The resumption of operations is expected on Monday morning with the restoration of access to the CNPq systems, ”said a statement from the council.
The system failure was caused by the burning of a device in devices that has the function of controlling the servers that host the platforms. This occurred when migrating data to a new server. The President of the CNPq, Evaldo Vilela, ruled out a hacker’s action.
In an email the report received, a CNPq official reported Monday (26) that the council’s main server had been reached and that the devices were out of warranty and with no maintenance contract. This would prevent an immediate repair and would require an outside company to be used.
When asked by Folha, CNPq and the Ministry of Science did not respond to the operation without warranty and maintenance.
Lattes is a database with the résumés of all researchers, and measures such as granting grants depend on the platform’s consultation. On the other hand, Carlos Chagas is responsible for running public calls and announcements to promote research, manage and pay out grants.
About 84 thousand researchers are funded by the CNPq. But other research institutions also carry out operations that are anchored on Lattes.
The deadlines for actions such as the submission of proposals, accounting and the validity of scholarships are suspended and extended. New dates will be announced as soon as the systems are rebuilt, says the CNPq.
Officials point out that the failure reflects the CNPq’s budget contraction. This was rejected by the President of the CNPq.
In 2021, the agency has the lowest budget since at least 2012, also in nominal terms. The Agency’s updated budget allocation for the year is R $ 1.2 billion – for example, between 2013 and 2015 the implemented budget exceeded R $ 2 billion.