Arizona Commerce Authority · Headquarters Lease

They won’t show you the file.

Arizona’s economic development agency ran a seven-month competition for its new headquarters. It never published the scoring criteria. It scored bidders on things it never asked about. It picked the more expensive building, owned from overseas. And it cannot point to a single public vote approving it.

See the scoring matrix Read the documents

0evaluation criteria disclosed in the RFP

35of 100 points scored on criteria found nowhere in the RFP

$4–5Madditional cost to Arizona taxpayers

0public board votes anyone can find

If you remember one thing

200 East Van Buren scored a perfect 10 out of 10 on price. It finished last.

On the Arizona Commerce Authority’s own scoring sheet, the local building scored 10/10 on “Negotiated $/SF.” The Collier Center — the building the ACA chose — scored 7. On square-footage fit, 200 EVB scored a perfect 10 as well.

Final scores: 200 EVB, 60. Collier Center, 95.

The 35-point gap was built out of criteria no bidder was ever told about — “Interim Space on Property,” “Building ownership strength,” “Traffic Considerations,” “Demonstration View from Suite,” “Area Amenities,” “Space Consideration for Partners” — and out of scoring rent concessions that the RFP had expressly instructed bidders to fold into their rate.

“Hard to compete with the value add – and brand – of Sumitomo.” ACA Board member Jack Selby, text message, June 3, 2026 — filed as a sworn court exhibit

Take the matrix apart, line by line

The case in four parts

What went wrong

One

A competition with no published rules

The December 1, 2025 RFP is a term sheet. It sets out no criteria, no weights and no scoring methodology, and it never says the award will be made on “best value” — the two things the ACA’s own procurement policy requires for awards over $50,000.

The matrix →

Two

A scorecard dated six months late

The only scoring document that has surfaced is titled “updated 6.9.2026” — roughly six months after proposals came in, and four days after Pivot demanded the procurement records. It was not attached to the ACA’s protest denial ten days later.

The timeline →

Three

Millions more, for a building rated worse on price

The Collier Center lists at $37.00 per square foot. Pivot’s all-in effective rate was about $24, with operating expenses and the entire build-out included. The difference runs to four or five million dollars.

The money →

Four

No approval anyone can find

Board agendas, minutes, presentations and meeting recordings were all reviewed. No public vote approving a multi-million-dollar lease has been located, and the ACA has produced none in response to a written demand.

The documents →

A worked example

Six points for “Traffic Considerations”

The matrix gave the Collier Center 6 out of 6 on traffic and gave 200 East Van Buren 4. The two buildings are 0.3 miles apart on the same street — a six-minute walk.

We measured thirteen destinations across Arizona — the Capitol, Sky Harbor, ASU, Mill Avenue, Scottsdale, Intel in Chandler, TSMC, Goodyear, Anthem, Prescott, Tucson, Sedona and Flagstaff. Not one of them differs by more than a mile. 200 EVB is closer to seven, the Collier Center to four, and two are identical.

What the mileage misses is how you actually get in and out — and there the ACA scored the worse building higher on all three counts that matter.

Arterial egress. The Collier Center fronts Washington Street, which runs one-way westbound. Going north, south or east means working through a grid of one-way streets first. Ask Google to drive you three blocks east along Washington and it routes you off the street entirely. Van Buren is a two-way arterial: you turn either direction the moment you leave the garage.

Event-day resilience — the critical failure point. The Collier Center sits in the immediate blast zone of the Suns arena and Chase Field — roughly 144 regular-season home dates a year, before a single playoff game, concert or convention. On those afternoons Washington and Jefferson come to a standstill and staff are trapped in the parking garages. 200 East Van Buren sits four blocks north, outside that footprint, with the same drive home whether or not there is a game.

Freeway proximity. Both look close on a map. Only one is quick: from Van Buren it is a clean run to the I-10 / 7th Street interchange or straight west to I-17, while every trip from Washington starts by going the wrong way.

See the drive times and the one-way test

Campaign creative

What the trucks are saying

These are the messages circling downtown Phoenix. Every one of them is a question the Arizona Commerce Authority could answer tomorrow by releasing its procurement file.

Arizona Commerce Authority — Ripping Off Taxpayers

ACA got the view.
You got the bill.

Learn more at ACA-FRAUD.com