The secret to the State Department’s AI success

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 this Friday September 25. Make your voice heard to help us select who will be recognized on this year’s list. Two of those nominees up for vote in 2026 are leaders from the State Department: CIO Kelly Fletcher and Chief AI Officer Amy Ritualo. Fletcher and Ritualo recently joined the Daily Scoop Podcast to discuss all things AI at the State Department, from their early successes to the challenges they faced in getting there and what’s next.

Artificial intelligence will soon aid Interior Department investigators with missing and murdered Indigenous person cases, according to contracting documents posted Friday. The department intends to award a firm-fixed-price contract to Clearview AI for facial recognition technology, saying it will enable personnel to “rapidly identify and locate missing persons, crime victims, and suspects nationwide.” “Access to Clearview AI’s platform is critical to [the Missing and Murdered Unit]’s mission, providing capabilities necessary for sensitive and urgent investigations,” the documents said. The agency is looking to get six accounts to not only help with MMIP cases, but also human trafficking and Internet Crimes Against Children cases within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Office of Justice Services and the MMU, it said. While this is not a solicitation, to meet market research requirements firms that believe they can provide the required services can submit a capability statement and pricing information to the department by noon Tuesday. Other government agencies have used Clearview AI for facial recognition, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Anthropic has extended its OneGov deal with the General Services Administration by one month, a website update Thursday shows. Originally set to expire at the end of this month, the company’s $1 per user deal for Claude for Government will now be available until Oct. 31. GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The extension follows OpenAI’s new OneGov deal, announced last week for ChatGPT models. The agreement now offers discounted, consumption-based pricing until Dec. 31, 2028 instead of the previous $1 per agency deal. The re-upped Claude pact comes weeks after a GSA official previewed new OneGov AI deals and extensions coming before three popular deals were to expire Sept. 30. There have been no new plans announced for Google’s Gemini OneGov deal. An OpenAI deal press release from GSA earlier this month said OneGov has achieved nearly $1.7 billion in cost savings, $1.4 billion of which stems from AI tools for about 3.5 million federal employees.

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