El «convenio de pago» como obstáculo para la proyección del principio de integridad en la contratación pública ecuatoriana

Abstract

The research and study within the Public Administration Sciences, regarding the legal nature of the figure known as «payment agreement» in public contracting, and the analysis of the administrative custom in the Republic of Ecuador, supports the need for study, from informal action, the legal phenomena which creates obligations for the Administration without a prior contract. This research defines the legal concepts of «payment agreement»; enrichment without cause; integrity in performance; informal internal action, external and conventional performance of the Administration. Likewise, a space is created for the analysis of the problem that surrounds the lack of normative development of the figure of «payment agreement», the deficient doctrinal production; and the concurrence of the Administration in the use of this legal figure. In this sense, the figure of the «payment agreement» in Ecuador has had a «justification», based on opinions of the Procuraduría General del Estado (Office of the Procurator-General), which indicates requirements for its subscription. However, an analysis of the very origin of these obligations that is agreed upon without a contract is not made, but rather focuses on the «payment agreement, as the performance-result. That is, the instrument that settles payment obligations of the public administration, but the conventional, atypical, and informal action is not analyzed.