TREATMENT OF COMMISSION IN COMMISSIONED OFFICER CORPS FOR PURPOSES OF CERTAIN HIRING DECISIONS.

SEC. 209. TREATMENT OF COMMISSION IN COMMISSIONED OFFICER CORPS FOR PURPOSES OF CERTAIN HIRING DECISIONS. (a) In General.—Subtitle E (33 U.S.C. 3071 et seq.), as amended by this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following: “SEC. 269A. [33 U.S.C. 3079a] TREATMENT OF COMMISSION IN COMMISSIONED OFFICER CORPS AS EMPLOYMENT IN ADMINISTRATION FOR PURPOSES OF CERTAIN HIRING DECISIONS “(a) In General.—In any case in which the Secretary accepts an application for a position of employment with the Administration and limits consideration of applications for such position to applications submitted by individuals serving in a career or career-conditional position in the competitive service within the Administration, the Secretary shall deem an officer who has served as an officer in the commissioned officer corps of the Administration for at least three years to be serving in a career or career-conditional position in the competitive service within the Administration for purposes of such limitation. “(b) Career Appointments.—If the Secretary selects an application submitted by an officer described in subsection (a) for a position described in such subsection, the Secretary shall give such officer a career or career-conditional appointment in the competitive service, as appropriate. “(c) Competitive Service Defined.—In this section, the term ‘competitive service’ has the meaning given the term in section 2102 of title 5, United States Code.” . (b) Clerical Amendment.—The table of contents in section 1 of the Act entitled “An Act to reauthorize the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998, and for other purposes” (Public Law 107-372) is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 269, as added by section 203(b), the following new item: “Sec. 269A. Treatment of commission in commissioned officer corps as employment in Administration for purposes of certain hiring decisions.” .