The Brazilian Public Administration has been the subject of constant debates regarding its efficiency, fiscal sustainability, and capacity to deliver public policies to society.
Since the end of June 2025, Bills (PL) No. 3.069/2025 (Chamber of Deputies) and No. 3.086/2025 (Senate), both nicknamed the General Law for Temporary Workers, have been under consideration, purportedly regulating item IX of article 37 of the Constitution, which deals with fixed-term contracts to meet temporary needs of exceptional public interest.
The normative content of the two proposals, which is practically identical, is also reproduced in the draft bill that aims to establish a new legal framework for Public Administration, prepared within the scope of the working group of the Chamber of Deputies dedicated to discussing the proposed amendment to the constitution.
The proposal offered through administrative reform, in its essence, aims to solve systemic problems such as: the low maturity of public governance, the absence of binding mechanisms for results-based management, the fragmentation of careers and structures, the maintenance of privileges incompatible with the public interest, and the lack of technological integration.
In this vein, the strategy used to proceed with the proposed constitutional amendment is primarily the updating of the constitutional-administrative framework, which is justified by mitigating systemic structural deficiencies and delivering greater effectiveness of public policies.
What is the central philosophy of the Administrative Reform?
The administrative reform was developed by a Working Group composed of 17 members and parliamentarians, who presented 70 proposals organized into 4 areas, comprising:
- Strategy, Governance and Management
- Digital transformation
- Professionalization
- Elimination of privileges
Each of these axes is outlined in the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution itself, through specific provisions that seek to strengthen strategic planning, improve governance and management instruments, promote the professionalization of the public service, and eliminate privileges considered incompatible with the principles of efficiency, morality, and public interest.
The proposal, therefore, is based on the premise that the current constitutional model is excessively formalistic and not oriented enough towards achieving concrete results, requiring a normative restructuring capable of providing greater rationality and responsiveness to state action.
Strategy, Governance and Management
This theme arose from the premise that the principles of efficiency and transparency alone do not establish management mechanisms and instruments capable of ensuring the objectivity of goals and indicators of state action aimed at achieving results.
Thus, in the field of strategy, governance, and management, the proposal establishes the mandatory strategic planning for results at all three federal levels, linking administrative action to previously defined goals and results agreements, as observed in articles 28, §1º-A, 29, II-A, 84, §3º and, in a systematized manner, in article 38-A.
These mechanisms reinforce a performance-oriented management logic, in which the institutional and individual evaluation of public agents becomes a condition for career advancement and the granting of bonuses based on results, in addition to expanding the guiding and evaluative role of the Courts of Auditors in monitoring the effectiveness of public policies.
This is an institutional guarantee that protects not the civil servant per se, but the Administration itself against political interference, undue hierarchical pressure, and private interests. By weakening it, the reform increases the risk of capture of the state apparatus and compromises the technical autonomy of public agents, especially in the implementation and oversight of sensitive public policies. The article clearly demonstrates that replacing stable employment with temporary contracts tends to increase turnover, reduce institutional memory, and undermine public service.
Digital transformation
The proposed constitutional amendment (PEC) foresees the digitization of administrative services and procedures, such as obtaining certificates and national identity cards in digital format (Article 5, XXXIV, "b" and "c"), as well as the expansion of popular participation through electronic means (Article 14, III and §14). Article 21, XXVII, assigns to the Union the coordination of the National Digital Government Strategy, while Article 38-B establishes guidelines for system interoperability, use of open data, cybersecurity, and innovation, highlighting the centrality of technology in the reorganization of Public Administration.
Professionalization
The professionalization axis seeks to reinforce technical and meritocratic criteria in human resource management, especially through the general rules on the human resource management cycle foreseen in article 22, XXXII. Articles 37, II, II-A, II-B and II-C reformulate the public service examination system, requiring prior workforce sizing, justification for hiring and, in specific cases, entry at different career levels. Added to this are the restriction and qualification of appointed positions (article 37, VA and VB), periodic performance evaluation (article 39-A) and probationary period with objective criteria (article 41, §§ 5 and 6), composing a model that prioritizes performance, training and alignment with institutional objectives.
Elimination of privileges
The elimination of privileges is explicitly manifested in the extensive list of prohibitions contained in Article 37, XXIII, which forbids, among other benefits, additional payments based solely on length of service, bonus leave, vacations exceeding thirty days, and automatic promotions. Paragraphs 11-A to 11-D of Article 37 impose strict limits on compensatory allowances and subsidies, conditioning them to criteria of a compensatory, episodic, and transparent nature.
Furthermore, the PEC establishes limits on parliamentary expenses and the administrative structure of States and Municipalities (articles 27, §2º-A, and 29, III-A and VI-A), as well as creating mechanisms for standardizing remuneration (article 39, §5º-A), revealing the intention to rationalize spending, reinforce equality, and contain benefits considered excessive in the public service.
What is the practical relevance of this topic?
The practical relevance of this topic is evident, first and foremost, in the organization and operational capacity of the Public Administration itself.
The proposed changes to the entry system, job security, performance evaluation criteria, and hiring methods directly impact the continuity, impartiality, and quality of essential public services.
Although the administrative reform is presented under the rhetoric of modernization and efficiency, this narrative, to some extent, obscures profound structural changes in the legal-administrative regime, whose practical effects tend to weaken fundamental constitutional pillars, such as public competitive examinations and job security.
The progressive replacement of permanent civil servants with temporary contracts compromises institutional memory, intensifies turnover, and reduces the technical autonomy of public agents, producing concrete repercussions in the implementation and oversight of public policies. By normalizing temporary contracts for permanent positions, the reform undermines the exceptional nature of these situations and weakens the requirement for competitive examinations as a constitutional rule for access to public office.
This move represents a significant shift from the model outlined by the 1988 Constitution, which conceived of public service as a state career, structured on technical, impersonal bases and oriented towards the public interest, and not as a space for free political management.
In this context, it is essential to recognize that a civil servant holding a permanent position is an indispensable element for the proper functioning of the administrative function. The relaxation of job security, therefore, cannot be understood as a mere administrative adjustment.
This is an institutional guarantee that protects not only the individual public agent, but the Administration itself against undue political interference, abusive hierarchical pressures, and private interests. Its weakening increases the risk of capture of the state apparatus and compromises the technical autonomy of public servants, especially in the implementation and oversight of sensitive public policies, in addition to potentially leading to the precariousness of public service.
Furthermore, the topic has direct practical relevance for controlling power and preserving administrative legality. Although frequently labeled as a privilege in public debate, job security plays an institutional role in providing functional protection, allowing public servants to act in accordance with the Constitution and the law, even in the face of circumstantial pressures.
Its relativization weakens internal and external control mechanisms, increases the risks of misuse of public resources, and hinders the fight against corruption practices.
Conclusion
The administrative reform projects direct impacts on the citizen and on the very model of the State enshrined in the 1988 Constitution. By redefining the role of the public servant and the structural bases of the public service, the debate reveals an institutional choice between a State sustained by legal guarantees and a more flexible, malleable management model.
Thus, the discussion is not limited to the pursuit of administrative efficiency, but involves preserving the republican character of Public Administration, the effectiveness of social rights, and the realization of the public interest in the long term.
It is undeniable that it is important to modernize the currently adopted model, as well as to establish effective regulations for temporary hiring. However, this process must occur in a careful, exceptional manner, and strictly linked to duly justified temporary needs, without resulting in the precariousness of labor relations, the undermining of public service examinations, or the weakening of the institutional guarantees that underpin public service.
References
BRAZIL. Constitution (1988). Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil of 1988. Brasília, DF: Presidency of the Republic, 1988.
BRAZIL. Chamber of Deputies. Bill No. 3.069 of 2025. Regulates Article 37, IX, of the Federal Constitution, providing for fixed-term contracts to meet temporary needs of exceptional public interest. Brasília, DF: Chamber of Deputies, 2025.
BRAZIL. Federal Senate. Bill No. 3.086 of 2025. Provides for fixed-term contracts to meet temporary needs of exceptional public interest, pursuant to Article 37, IX, of the Federal Constitution. Brasília, DF: Federal Senate, 2025.
BRAZIL. Chamber of Deputies. Draft Bill for the new legal framework of Public Administration . Prepared by the Working Group on Administrative Reform. Brasília, DF: Chamber of Deputies, 2025.
BRAZIL. Chamber of Deputies. Proposed Amendment to the Constitution for Administrative Reform . Amends provisions of the Federal Constitution relating to the organization of the Public Administration and the legal regime of public servants. Brasília, DF: Chamber of Deputies, 2025.
DI PIETRO, Maria Sylvia Zanella. Administrative Law . 36th ed. São Paulo: Atlas, 2023.
MAZZA, Alexandre. Administrative Law Manual. 14th ed. São Paulo: Saraiva, 2024.
