All five proposals to the federal government’s quantum computing EoI were ruled out in less than two weeks, in contrast to the six months of internal due diligence and millions of dollars spent on external advice to assess an unsolicited proposal from PsiQuantum.
Amid calls for the government’s investment in the Californian startup to be subject to a tougher national interest test, answers to questions on notice provided to the Senate reveal that competing proposals were assessed and dismissed in just 10 days.
The federal opposition has seized on the admission, claiming it is more evidence that the $940 million joint investment in the company with the Queensland government was a “captain’s pick”.
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