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EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Digital sat down with SkillStorm CEO Justin Vianello, who addressed issues the federal government faces hiring workers, sometimes raising national security concerns, and explained what his company is doing to streamline that process.
The federal government has struggled for decades with staffing issues in key roles like cybersecurity, tech and other high-skill areas, an issue flagged as far back as 2001, according to the Government Accountability Office. Vianello discussed how SkillStorm is attempting to solve those issues.
“If we look at the procurement process and the way it’s been structured, there’s significant delays,” Vianello told Fox News Digital. “So, it can take years to actually get to a point where a solicitation is actually awarded. And then, ironically or paradoxically, post that award, the agency will expect … the particular company to be able to deliver a team in 10 days. So, this process is inefficient and somewhat outdated.”
Vianello explained that the current hiring process is “lengthy” and “laborious,” sometimes taking years rather than months and creating delays that teams need to properly mobilize and deploy.
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“One of the solutions to that issue is to actually allow for an on-ramp time where people can spend between two to four months to custom build teams that have the right skills, that have (the) right certifications that are based in the right locations to rapidly deploy teams and to accelerate IT transformation and automation. And that’s really where the SkillStorm model comes in,” Vianello said.
Vianello says the company has spent millions of dollars in recent years building a Performance Acceleration Center for Excellence that is essentially a learning management training system with a customized curriculum and content along with a “stable of trainers” in a position to “rapidly upskill and deploy people.”
“How do we leverage that infrastructure to build out a solution for the federal government?” Vianello said. “Well, what we do is we leverage that infrastructure to accelerate and train teams. And the way the model works is we both bring people into our program. We train them for anywhere between 10 and 16 weeks. We pay them while we’re training them. We help them achieve their certification, and then we deploy them. And we recover the investment that we make by billing them hourly.”
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That system, Vianello explained, means SkillStorm takes “all the risk up front” and recovers it by billing hourly to the client.
“Now this is the perfect solution to being able to custom-build tech teams, create net new talent for the ecosystem and being able deploy these people over time. But the government is gonna have to change the procurement system to not require people to be deployed within 10 days but allow companies to build these teams over two, three, four months.”
Another issue, Vianello told Fox News Digital, is the current hiring process can get tied up with security clearances and become a national security risk.
“That’s absolutely part of it, but I think there’s a bigger issue here if you look more generally at our model and some of the issues that are facing the market,” Vianello said. “Well, if you look at SkillStorm’s model, SkillStorm has an innovative cost-effective solution to custom-build U.S.-based tech teams for rapid deployment.
“Now, we have a student debt crisis in this country, and, at the same time, what are we doing? We’re offshoring our children’s roles to other countries, and we’re using visa holders to take up the place of entry-level tech roles. Now, if we don’t invest in programs like SkillStorm, if we do invest in these outcome-driven, apprenticeship-type programs, where’s the next generation of cybersecurity experts going to come from?
“Where’s the new generation of AI innovators going to come from? This is a national security issue that is essential in driving innovation. Right now, there are 500,000 open cybersecurity roles as of January 2025. We are the domestic models, like these apprenticeship models, that can support that gap to make sure that we’re protecting national security.”
Former General Services Administration (GSA) head Emily Murphy, who previously spoke to Fox News Digital about the GSA’s work to streamline government in the era of DOGE, said she has “seen firsthand how outdated federal systems have become one of the most serious yet least discussed threats to national security.
“Agencies charged with safeguarding cybersecurity and digital infrastructure are losing the talent battle to the private sector, and the slow, outdated process for onboarding cleared workers doesn’t match the urgency of today’s threats.”
Murphy explained that the federal government needs a “new pipeline” that “delivers clearance-eligible, project-ready professionals trained on mission-specific tools.”
“SkillStorm is doing exactly that, deploying “Stormers,” technologists trained on specific tech platforms, at a significant discount. It’s a smarter, faster way to secure the talent our government urgently needs.
Vianello told Fox News Digital SkillStorm and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have similar goals in making government more efficient.
“I think DOGE is really focused on IT automation and IT transformation and doing it on an efficient and cost-effective basis,” Vianello said.
“We believe, going forward, there’s probably going to be more of a push to less full-time employees and more of a push towards efficient contractors coming in and accelerating project delivery. So, again, this really does come back in our belief.
“To the solicitation process, how do we tighten it up? How do we make sure that once an award is made and that technology is implemented, it’s not outdated? Because, if that continues to happen, how are you going to continue to attract technologists, young technologists who want to be part of the change?”
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