Managing AI innovation across the sprawling Department of Commerce

Throughout 2026, you cast your nominations for the FedScoop 50, and the results are in. Hundreds of top executives from across the government tech landscape are now up for vote to see who will be honored among this year’s FedScoop 50. Voting is open now and runs through September 25. Make your voice heard to help us select who will be recognized on this year’s list. One of those nominees in the prestigious Golden Gov category for this year is Department of Commerce CIO Brian Epley. Epley joined the Daily Scoop Podcast to share updates on Commerce’s AI adoption and how the sprawling department manages the pace of innovation within the bureaucratic government planning and budgeting cycles, and much more.

The Secret Service is planning to spend up to $20 million on AI robots for target practice as part of a contract it expects to award in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, per recently published acquisition planning documents. The Department of Homeland Security unit wants to add one autonomous robotic system that will include eight all-terrain infantry targets, one vehicle target and four other infantry targets. The Secret Service will require its robotic training squad to wear ballistic protection for various ammunition calibers. The agency has been building up its autonomous training tools with Marathon Targets, starting back in 2023. Over the past few years, the Secret Service has spent more than $4 million on the vendor’s autonomous robotic targeting system, according to USAspending records. The latest follow-on, no-competition contract is an expansion of these efforts.

The Department of Government Efficiency’s time in Washington is over, but a pair of Democratic senators aren’t done pushing for answers about the Elon Musk group’s undertakings at the Social Security Administration. In a letter sent last week, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon blasted SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano for providing “inadequate responses” to congressional inquiries about DOGE’s handling of data and related information security risks. “Over the past fourteen months, we have repeatedly sought basic information about DOGE’s activities at SSA,” the Democrats wrote. “Your responses have either been unresponsive or later disproved by SSA’s own admissions.”

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