Requirements with respect to processing of requests for personnel and administrative support

The Director of the Office of Personnel Management or the Administrator of General Services, as the case may be, shall respond to any priority request made by the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, or the Director of the National Institutes of Health, not later than 21 days after the date on which such request is made. If the Director of the Office of Personnel Management or the Administrator of General Services, as the case may be, does not disapprove a priority request during the 21-day period, the request shall be deemed to be approved. The Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, and the Director of the National Institutes of Health, shall, respectively, transmit to the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary for Health a copy of each priority request made under this section by the agency head involved. The copy shall be transmitted on the date on which the priority request involved is made. For purposes of this section, the term “priority request” means any request that—