There shall be in the Public Health Service a Silvio O. Conte Senior Biomedical Research and Biomedical Product Assessment Service (in this section referred to as the “Service”), not to exceed 2,000 members, the purpose of which is to recruit and retain outstanding and qualified scientific and technical experts in the fields of biomedical research, clinical research evaluation, and biomedical product assessment.

The authority established in paragraph (1) may not be construed to require the Secretary to reduce the number of employees serving under any other employment system in order to offset the number of members serving in the Service.

The Secretary shall assign experts under this section to agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services taking into account the need for the expertise of such expert.