Days before President Gustavo Petro's Government hands over power to president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, the National Agency for the State's Legal Defense (ANDJE) published Resolution 468 of July 23, 2026, amending its Specific Manual of Job Functions and Labor Competencies. The designated Minister of Justice, Iván Cancino, publicly flagged the measure and asked the agency's incoming director, Germán Calderón España, to immediately conduct a technical and legality review of the administrative act.
What did Resolution 468 change?
As Cancino himself explained, the resolution adjusts the academic profiles, the Basic Knowledge Cores (NBC), and the specific functions of some ANDJE positions. The agency clarified that the measure does not alter the classification or hierarchical level of the affected positions — on its face, a minor technical change. For the designated minister, however, the timing of its issuance — less than two weeks before the change of government — is itself a red flag.
Cancino's warning
"We have just detected an irregularity with possible legal consequences due to an apparent violation of the principle of legality," the designated minister said upon learning of the resolution's publication. He accordingly asked ANDJE's incoming director to carry out an immediate technical review and, if sufficient grounds are found, to bring the corresponding criminal and disciplinary actions before the competent authorities, with the stated purpose of safeguarding administrative morality and the management of public resources.
Cancino was emphatic about the standard that, in his view, should govern any regulatory adjustment during a transition: "In a transition process, a technical review is essential to guarantee merit, transparency and equal access to public employment, avoiding any risk of steering profiles or 'locking in' positions."
Potential administrative illegality does not automatically translate into criminal or disciplinary liability. The latter would require identifying the functional duties breached and the servant's culpability; the criminal path, moreover, requires proving the commission of an expressly defined offense and each responsible party's individual involvement.
Not the only open front at ANDJE
The resolution on the job manual is not the first concern the transition team has raised about the Agency. Days earlier, Cancino had already asked the agency's then-director to postpone procurement decisions. According to information disclosed during the transition, this involves 48 processes worth roughly $4.379 billion in the current fiscal year and commitments that, including future-year obligations, could reach approximately $6.402 billion. The designated minister also requested the complete list of those processes — object, amount, selection method and technical justification — and brought the matter to the attention of the Office of the Inspector General and the Comptroller General's Office for the exercise of their preventive and disciplinary functions.
The principle of legality versus last-minute acts
From the standpoint of administrative law, an internal organizational act — such as a job manual — is not exempt from review simply because it does not modify the staffing table. Administrative case law has consistently held that every administrative act must be issued within the competence of the official or body issuing it, following due process, and without departing from the purpose the law assigns to it. When a change of this nature occurs in the final days of a Government and its effects project onto the incoming administration, the timing of the decision warrants particularly careful review of its technical motivation, its background, and its effects. The date alone does not determine its illegality, but it does require establishing whether the change responded to objective service needs or to a purpose other than the one the legal order intends.
Colombia's public employment system, governed by Law 909 of 2004 and its implementing decrees, rests on the merit principle: a position's requirements must respond to the real needs of the function, not to the convenience of whoever holds — or aspires to hold — the position. Adjusting academic profiles or Basic Knowledge Cores can decisively expand or narrow the pool of candidates eligible for a job. That consequence does not by itself prove steering, but it does require verifying whether the new requirements bear an objective relationship to the position's functions or were designed to favor previously identified profiles. That is the point at which technical review stops being a formality and becomes an effective guarantee of merit.
What the incoming Government can — and cannot — do
Announcing a technical and legal review is the right response. Before making a decision, the new leadership must establish which positions were changed, which academic profiles and Basic Knowledge Cores were added or removed, which functions changed, what the technical justification was, and whether the change responded to the real needs of the service.
Until the swearing-in takes place, the incoming team lacks the authority to modify Resolution 468. Their status as designated officials allows them to request information, flag risks and prepare the review, but not yet to exercise the administrative powers of the offices they will hold.
Once the new leadership is sworn in, the agency may modify, replace, or void the manual through a new administrative act, provided it acts through the competent authority and meets the applicable technical, legal and procedural requirements. It may also pursue direct revocation of the act or challenge its validity before the Administrative Courts if it deems a judicial ruling necessary.
A change of Government does not by itself invalidate the decisions of the outgoing administration, but neither does it prevent the new administration from reviewing and modifying general acts of internal organization. The limit lies not in the political identity of whoever issued the resolution, but in the competence, motivation, purpose and procedure that supported the decision.
What comes next
The technical review entrusted to ANDJE's incoming director must establish whether Resolution 468 conformed to the procedure and purpose the law requires, or whether, on the contrary, it sought to condition access to specific positions in the final phase of a Government. Its outcome will determine whether the case remains a minor administrative adjustment or escalates to the criminal and disciplinary avenues the designated minister has already raised.
"A technical review is essential to guarantee merit, transparency and equal access to public employment, avoiding any risk of steering profiles or 'locking in' positions."
With information from Caracol Radio, Semana and El Colombiano.