Recruitment of a contract agent in the hospital public service (FPH)

Verified 03 March 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The cases in which public hospitals may recruit contract staff are listed by law. The duration of the contract (fixed or indefinite) depends on the reason for recruitment. We present these conditions.

Accessible Jobs

You can be recruited as a contractor on a permanent job when the nature of the duties or the needs of the service justify it, in particular in the following cases:

  • There are no hospital corps of officials to perform the desired functions
  • To exercise newly supported features by the administration or requiring highly specialized technical knowledge.

The use may be of category A, B or C.

The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contract workers.

Duration of contract

You can be recruited in FIXED-TERM CONTRACT: titleContent or in DTA: titleContent.

If you are recruited on a fixed-term contract, the duration of your contract is at maximum of 3 years, renewable up to 6 years.

If your contract is renewed beyond 6 years, it can only be renewed on a permanent contract.

When you recruit, if you already have 6 years of public service in functions falling within the same hierarchical category as the job you are recruited from, you are directly recruited on permanent contracts.

If you prove, before the end of your fixed-term contract, 6 years of public services in functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract is considered concluded in permanent contract.

Your employer institution sends you a new contract confirming its indefinite duration.

If you refuse to enter into this new contract of indefinite duration, you will remain in office until the end of your current fixed-term contract.

The 6-year term is recorded taking into account all the services performed in the following jobs or occupied for the following reasons :

  • Needs of the service or nature of functions
  • Non-full-time employment with a working time of less than 17 hours 30 per week
  • Replacing a Temporarily Absent Agent
  • Temporary vacancy pending recruitment of hospital staff
  • Temporary or seasonal increase in activity.

The duration of 6 years must have been completed in full at the same establishment.

Services performed on a part-time and non-full-time basis are treated as services performed on a full-time basis.

Services performed on a discontinuous basis are taken into account, if the duration of the interruption between 2 contracts does not exceed 4 months.

For the calculation of the duration of interruption between 2 contracts, any period of health emergency is not taken into account.

If during your recruitment, you are already bound by CDI to another public hospital or to an administration or a public establishment of the State or to a local authority or a territorial public establishment, on functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract may be concluded for an indefinite period.

You can be recruited as a contractor on a permanent job to replace an official or contract staff member on part-time or leave.

The use may be of category A, B or C. The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service.

The contract is concluded for a fixed period.

It shall be renewable by express decision, subject to the duration of the absence of the replaced staff member.

You can be recruited as a contractor on a permanent job temporarily vacant pending the recruitment of a territorial official.

The use may be of category A, B or C. The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service.

The contract shall be concluded for a fixed period of up to one year.

It may be extended for a total period of two years if, at the end of the one-year period, the recruitment procedure for the post concerned by an official has not been completed.

You can be recruited as a contract on a fixed-term contract on a non-permanent job to face a temporary or seasonal increase in activity.

The total duration of the contract and any renewals may not exceed 6 months in a period of 12 consecutive months to cope with an increase seasonal of activities.

The total duration of the contract and any renewals may not exceed 12 months in a period of 18 consecutive months to meet an increase temporary of activities.

The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contract workers.

Accessible Jobs

Permanent non-full-time posts with a weekly working time of less than half-time (17.30) may only be filled by contract staff.

The use may be of category A, B or C.

The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contract workers.

Duration of contract

You can be recruited in FIXED-TERM CONTRACT: titleContent or in DTA: titleContent.

If you are recruited on a fixed-term contract, the duration of your contract is at maximum of 3 years, renewable up to 6 years.

If your contract is renewed beyond 6 years, it can only be renewed on a permanent contract.

When you recruit, if you already have 6 years of public service in functions falling within the same hierarchical category as the job you are recruited from, you are directly recruited on permanent contracts.

If you prove, before the end of your fixed-term contract, 6 years of public services in functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract is considered concluded in permanent contract.

Your employer institution sends you a new contract confirming its indefinite duration.

If you refuse to enter into this new contract of indefinite duration, you will remain in office until the end of your current fixed-term contract.

The 6-year term is recorded taking into account all the services performed in the following jobs or occupied for the following reasons :

  • Needs of the service or nature of functions
  • Non-full-time employment with a working time of less than 17 hours 30 per week
  • Replacing a Temporarily Absent Agent
  • Temporary vacancy pending recruitment of hospital staff
  • Temporary or seasonal increase in activity.

The duration of 6 years must have been completed in full at the same establishment.

Services performed on a part-time and non-full-time basis are treated as services performed on a full-time basis.

Services performed on a discontinuous basis are taken into account, if the duration of the interruption between 2 contracts does not exceed 4 months.

For the calculation of the duration of interruption between 2 contracts, any period of health emergency is not taken into account.

If during your recruitment, you are already bound by CDI to another public hospital or to an administration or a public establishment of the State or to a local authority or a territorial public establishment, on functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract may be concluded for an indefinite period.

You can be recruited in project contract to carry out an identified project or operation.

The project contract is concluded for a minimum duration of one year and one maximum duration of 6 years.

It may be renewed to carry out the project or operation, up to a total duration of 6 years.

Where the contract is concluded for a period of less than 6 years and the planned project or operation is not completed by the end of the contract, the contract may be renewed for a maximum of 6 years.

The project contract ends with the completion of the object for which it was concluded, after a period of notice.

It may, however, be terminated by decision of the employer's administration after a minimum period of one year if the project or operation for which it was concluded cannot be carried out.

If you have a disability, you can, under certain conditions, be recruited on a permanent job such as contract holder on a fixed-term contract, then tenured.

The use may be of category A, B or C.

You can be recruited as a contractor on a permanent job under the Path to careers in the civil service (Pact) if you are in one of the following 2 situations:

The Pact provides access to a Category C use, i.e. a job usually open to persons holding a BEP, CAP or college certificate.

The purpose of the Pact is to enable you to acquire, through training in alternation with your professional activity, a qualification related to your job or the diploma required to access the body to which your job belongs.

The duration of your contract cannot be less than 12 months, or greater than 2 years.

Your contract can be renewed for a maximum of one year if you fail the evaluation tests of your training and do not obtain the qualification, title or diploma provided for in your contract.

At the end of your contract, you are eligible to become a permanent civil servant.

You can be recruited as a contractor on a managerial job (director of a university hospital center or regional hospital center, director of a medico-social institution, etc.).

You are recruited on a fixed-term contract.

Your appointment to one of these jobs does not result in your tenure in the hospital public service or, at the end of your fixed-term contract, its renewal on a permanent contract.

FAQ