Quantum Benchmark Act

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