The state purchasing department, created and established by an act entitled “An act to establish a state purchasing department,” approved April twenty-first, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one (L.1931, c. 179, p. 401), is continued.

All officers and employees formerly employed by the state house commission or the state purchasing agent and transferred to the state purchasing department by the above entitled act, shall hold the same offices or employments in the state purchasing department so far as may be practicable, and the status of each such employee shall be as one continuing in the employment of the state with respect of all his rights and privileges under the civil service of this state or under any pension law or retirement system, or any other law, and each such employee shall retain all such rights and privileges as may be pertinent to his status in the service of the state.