Anthony N. Palladino
Associate Chief Counsel, Director Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition

Mr. Palladino has served as the Director of the FAA’s award winning Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition (ODRA) since December, 1997. In that capacity, he exercises the ODRA’s statutory authority to adjudicate all bid protests and contract disputes arising under the FAA’s Acquisition Management System, as well as OMB Circular A-76 contests, on behalf of the FAA Administrator. The ODRA also provides alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services to parties in matters under the ODRA’s jurisdiction. Mr. Palladino also has served as a Hearing Officer pursuant to 14 C.F.R. Part 16.

Prior to joining the FAA, Mr. Palladino was in private practice for 17 years, focusing on litigation and ADR of disputes involving public contracts, construction and private commercial matters. He was one of the original attorneys in the law firm of Smith, Pachter, McWhorter and D’Ambrosio, and became a partner in that firm in 1989. Prior to entering private practice, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Frank Q. Nebeker of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals from 1980 to 1981; and as a law clerk at the National Labor Relations Board, Division of Administrative Law Judges in 1979 and 1980.

Mr. Palladino graduated from Mercyhurst College (B.A., Presidential Scholar, 1974) and from the Antioch College School of Law (J.D. 1980). He is admitted to the Bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

From 1988 to 1990, Mr. Palladino served as the Chair of the Government Contracts Committee of the United States Claims Court Bar Association, and as Editor of the Association’s Annual Case Review. Mr. Palladino served on the Advisory Council of the United States Court of Federal Claims from 1999 to 2006. He also has been an active member of the American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section, serving as a committee chair from 1994 through 1996, and as a committee vice chair from 2002 to 2004. In 2002, Mr. Palladino served as a member of the Section’s Task Force on Dispute Avoidance and Early Resolution.

Mr. Palladino has been a member of the Federal Interagency ADR Working Group (IADRWG) Steering Committee since 1998. Mr. Palladino served as the Steering Committee Chair in 2005 and 2006. He chaired the IADRWG Contracts and Procurement Section from 2000 through 2007.

Mr. Palladino is a frequent lecturer and has prepared course materials for and spoken at conferences sponsored by the American Bar Association, other professional associations, and other federal agencies. He has authored numerous articles, including co-authoring "Acquisition ADR at the Federal Aviation Administration," a chapter in the Federal Administrative Dispute Resolution Deskbook, published by the American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Most recently he co-authored: “The FAA ODRA: A Tenth Anniversary Report,” published in the Spring 2008 Edition of The Procurement Lawyer, published by the ABA Section of Public Contract Law; as well as “The FAA’s Unique Disputes Process: A Primer,” published by the ABA in the Air & Space Lawyer, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2008. His E-mail address is: Anthony.Palladino@faa.gov.