The move is being considered ahead of England’s defence of their World Cup crown in two years time.
The benefits of having players directly contracted to the governing body has been highlighted by the England cricket team’s recent Ashes win and is already common practice among southern hemisphere rugby union sides.
RFU performance director Chris Spice said: “We would like central contracts, starting with a small number of players and building up.
“We would accept a system which allowed us to manage the players for certain periods of the season - November, the Six Nations and the summer."
