Quantum Benchmark Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10479 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                               H. R. 10479

 To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a policy to guide the 
   development and acquisition of quantum computing systems for the 
             Department of Defense, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 17, 2026

  Mr. Bacon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a policy to guide the 
   development and acquisition of quantum computing systems for the 
             Department of Defense, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Quantum Benchmark Act''.

SEC. 2. POLICY TO GUIDE THE DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITION OF QUANTUM 
              COMPUTING SYSTEMS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

    (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.
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