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29 Pub. Cont. Newsl. 1 (1993-1994)

handle is hein.journals/procurlw29 and id is 1 raw text is: Section of Public Contract Law, American Bar Association Volume 29, Number 1, Fall 1993 Once Every 500 Years The Phoenix was a mythical but fabulous Arabian bird. Herodotus reported it was red and golden and resembled an eagle. When it reached the end of its life (500 years), the Phoenix burned itself on a pyre. From its ashes arose a new Phoenix. The bird was a sacred symbol for Ancient Egyptians, representing the sun that (lies each night and rises again in the morning. We live in a universe and a weather system that have their own rhythms. A recent news article tells us that the ancient Akkadian empire, which flourished in Mesopotamia toward the end of the third millennia B.C., perished because of a severe, two-century-long drought. Is this what happened to the civilization of the Hohokam Indians, who lived in the vicinity of Phoenix, Arizona, some 600 years ago? They built a major canal system, remnants of which can still be seen; but this apparently did not protect them from the vagaries of long-term cli- matic cycles. Their name means ones who are gone, and they are. Similar to its mythical namesake, modern-day Phoenix and the surrounding Valley of the Sun have risen where once the Hohokam lived. Much about the culture of the latter, and native Americans of the Southwest more generally, can be learned from a visit to Phoenix's Heard Museum. It is one of the finest and largest museums of anthropology and primitive art in the United States, housed in an elegant Spanish Mission-style building. The civilizations and culture fashioned by native Americans in the generally arid and hostile Southwest were and are remarkable. Scottsdale, Arizona, a part of the Valley of the Sun, and a half-hour's drive from the'Phoenix airport, beckons the Section of Public Contract Law to a fall meeting at The Registry Resort. On Friday, November 19, there will be an exciting CLE program, Commercializing Government Procurement, followed by a cocktail reception. The next day, the Council will meet in open session. By then, we will know much more about procurement reform at DoD, GSA, and the other executive agencies, and about the visions of the National Performance Review. In November, please come to the Valley of the Sun with your own special back swing, back hand, backgam- mon, or sun-starved back. To the north lie Sadona and the Grand Canyon. To the west are the mountains and special places like Preston. To the south are Tucson and its famous Desert Museum. The Hohokam and other early civilizations lived here. You can see the ruins of one that thrived twenty centuries ago, at Pueblo Grande Museum. When Europeans arrived much later, native Americans were still living on the Sonora Desert. The human gene pool, like that of the mythical Phoenix, is truly remarkable, producing Eskimos, Sonora Amerindians, and inhabitants along the Amazon. As you look at austere Camelback and South Mountains, and today's water projects, think a moment about the versatility and resiliency of Homo sapiens. Issue Highlights: Fall Meeting Program, page 5. Recent Developments in State and Local Public Contract and Construction Law, page 8. Directory, pullout section

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