Mr. Silberman has specialized in construction and public contracts advice and litigation since 1992. He has represented contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and design professionals in the construction, defense, technology, telecom and service industries. His experience includes contracts for federal, state and local public entities and for private, commercial projects. He has helped clients evaluate, negotiate and draft solicitations, clarification questions, proposals and bids; negotiated and evaluated proposed contract terms; litigated bid protests of public contract awards; investigated and litigated claims for delay, disruption, payment, defects, and fraud or false claims; and advised clients and litigated disputes in connection with contract terminations, suspension and debarment, bond requirements, payment issues, and disabled access issues.
Mr. Silberman has spoken and published articles on a wide variety of construction and government contracts law subjects, including false claims, terminations, bid protests, subcontracting, Building Information Modeling (BIM), green building, Energy Savings Performance Contracts, IT procurements, abandonment/cardinal change claims, disabled access, and licensing.
Mr. Silberman is a leader in several prominent construction and government contracts organizations. He is an officer of the ABA Public Contract Law Section: He will serve as Secretary in 2014-15 and will ultimately serve as Chair in 2017-18. (He is a former member of the Section Council and a past chair of its Federal Procurement, State & Local Procurement, and Construction Divisions and of its Procurement Fraud and Strategic Alliances, Teaming and Subcontracting Committees.) He chairs the Publication Committee of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry (and is a past member of the Governing Committee and past chair of its Specialty Trade Contractors & Suppliers Division). He is the chair of the Board of Directors of the Bay Area District of AGC-California, is a former chair of the AGC-C's Legal Advisory Committee and is a former member of its Executive Committee.
Mr. Silberman has also advised clients and handled litigation of environmental, employment and commercial law issues, and serves on the Leadership Council of the San Francisco Bar Association’s Justice & Diversity Center.
Selected Representations
Solicitation evaluation, bid protest evaluation and prosecution, and court challenges of awards in multiple state and local procurements, including recent successful bid protest of award to non-responsive bidder by State of California of a major integrated IT system procurement
Prosecution of claims and defense of counterclaims for contractors in an arbitration and two multi-party federal court litigations, regarding major power, water treatment, and ethanol plant construction projects
Successful mediation and settlement of multiple litigations and appeals for major specialty subcontractors on public school construction projects
Counseling Federal 8(a) construction contractor regarding numerous subcontractor issues and flow down requirements
Jury trial and successful settlement for prime contractor of litigation claims by major subcontractor challenging its termination on a major State of Colorado integrated IT system procurement
Trial and successful mediation of federal latent defects case for major infrastructure contractor and supplier, including several reported decisions on warranty of specifications, final acceptance and other issues
Investigation, litigation defense and successful mediation of two related federal false claims and retaliation claims by qui tam relators against a major defense contractor
Review and revision of company government business policies to ensure compliance with federal requirements
Evaluation of TINA compliance and preparation of response to and negotiation of favorable resolution of adverse DCAA audit findings
Investigation and successful defense against allegations of violations with GSA schedule contract requirements, including most favored customer pricing
Investigation, preparation of company disclosures to federal authorities, and negotiation of favorable resolutions of false claims, export control, procurement integrity, and other violations
Successful defense of major State of California security services contract award in bid protest, administrative, and trial and appellate court proceedings
Successful prosecution and defense of numerous federal bid protests at the GAO, including recent awards of major construction, engineering, housing and services contracts
Successful prosecution of contract claims and appeals with the Boards of Contract Appeals including recent claims under major contracts for security services, software, and construction
Investigation and analysis of government contract impacts on major defense contractor’s liability for environmental contamination at several Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated facilities (GOCOs) and negotiation of consent decrees with contracting agencies and EPA
Investigation and evaluation of target companies’ federal, state and local government contracts business as part of acquiring technology company’s due diligence team
