Quantum Benchmark Act

This Act may be cited as the “Quantum Benchmark Act”.

(a) Policy required.— Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall issue a policy to guide the development and acquisition of quantum computing systems for the Department of Defense. Under the policy, the Secretary shall—

(1) establish a definition of “quantum computing system” for purposes of the policy;

(2) establish a process for validating and verifying quantum computing systems before such systems are developed or acquired by the Department; and

(3) ensure that the development and acquisition of such systems is consistent with and informed by the findings and processes of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (or any successor initiative).

(b) Limitation and waiver.—

(1) Limitation.— Following issuance of the policy under subsection (a), a quantum computing system may not be developed or acquired by an element of the Department of Defense unless the system has been validated and verified in accordance with such policy.

(2) Waiver.— The Secretary of Defense may waive the limitation under paragraph (1), on a case by case basis, with respect to a specific quantum computing system. In the event the Secretary issues such a waiver, the Secretary shall provide to the congressional defense committees, not later than 15 days after date on which the waiver was issued—

(A) written notice of such waiver; and

(B) the Secretary’s justification for the waiver.

(c) Congressional defense committees defined.— In this section, the term congressional defense committees has the meaning given that term in section 101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code.