Reforma al Reglamento Vigente de la Ley Orgánica del Sistema Nacional de Contratación Pública - Determinación del Presupuesto Referencial.

Abstract

This academic article on "Reform to the Current Regulations of the Organic Law of the National Public Procurement System - Determination of the Reference Budget, analyzes the updated regulations established in Ecuador, for Public Procurement within the pre-contractual stage, particularly in the determination of the reference budget, and arises from the need to analyze and propose a regulatory reform analyzing the different concepts and methodologies that govern public procurement in Ecuador, as well as the definitions and considerations of the term "best cost and / or best value for money analysis", added by Executive Decree No. 57, published in Official Registry supplement 87 of July 23, 2025. Because its guidelines indicate that, to establish a reference budget, similar goods and / or services from previous contracts made by the same entity or other entities of the public sector must be taken into consideration, however, no reference is made to how to proceed if these goods and / or services were acquired under different types of contracting processes such as: the auction procedure Inverse, where price prevails over the bidding procedure, where parameters other than price are considered, such as: technical personnel, facilities or workshops, equipment, machinery, tools, among others. Current regulations provide a general framework for determining the reference budget, but their practical application has revealed inconsistencies. This is due to the lack of specific criteria for standardizing prices across different processes, rather than a complete legal vacuum. This could lead to the determination of administrative, civil, and criminal liability for public officials responsible for calculating the reference budget for alleged "economic damages" to the state. Consequently, the implementation of this regulatory reform will produce significant changes in the analysis of public procurement in Ecuador.