Bill > HR10479

This bill, titled the Quantum Benchmark Act, requires the Secretary of Defense to issue a formal policy within 180 days to guide how the Department of Defense (DoD) develops and purchases quantum computing systems, which are advanced computers that process information in fundamentally different and vastly more powerful ways than traditional computers. As part of this policy, the Secretary must define what a quantum computing system is, create a process to test and verify these systems before the DoD invests in them, and align these efforts with the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency responsible for developing emerging technologies for military use. Once the policy is in place, the DoD is generally prohibited from developing or acquiring any quantum computing system that has not gone through this required validation and verification process, though the Secretary of Defense is granted the authority to issue case-by-case waivers provided that written notice and a justification are submitted to the congressional defense committees within 15 days.