A recent report from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) finds that Federal agencies will need approximately $7.1 billion to transition their prioritized information systems to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) between 2025 and 2035.
A large chunk of that multi-billion-dollar estimate, OMB acknowledged, would be to replace the government technology that cannot support new PQC systems.
OMB’s report, released on July 1, was congressionally mandated by the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act signed into law by President Biden in late 2022.
The report notes that the initial governmentwide projection of $7.1 billion “reflects a high, but expected, level of uncertainty associated with the inventory and transition to PQC.”
Agencies were required by OMB to provide a prioritized inventory of cryptographic systems to the White House by May 2023.
According to OMB’s report released last month, agencies are required to update their cost estimates for transitioning their systems to PQC annually to allow for adjustments as they gain familiarity with the inventories, costing methodologies, and the transition process. “Initial cost estimates represent a rough order of magnitude rather than precise calculations,” the report says.
In developing their cost estimates, agencies accounted for the conditions and qualities of the specific host system and networks. In certain cases, agencies were aware of systems that could not accommodate new cryptographic systems. “The cost to replace those systems constitutes a significant portion of the overall estimate,” OMB wrote.
The Biden-Harris administration began its focus on a post-quantum future with the release of its National Security Memorandum 10 – Promoting United States Leadership in Quantum Computing While Mitigating Risks to Vulnerable Cryptographic Systems – in May 2022.
The document calls for the transition of cryptographic systems to quantum-resistant cryptography by 2035.
