House Strategies Group LLCProcurement disparity, measured before the bid.
A preliminary landscape analysis of supplier availability and utilization for Fairfax County Government and Fairfax County Public Schools, built entirely from public data ahead of RFP 2000004217. It is the data, analytics, and visualization capability House Strategies Group is putting forward to lead the study.
Sources: U.S. Census Annual Business Survey 2022; Fairfax County FY23 SWaM Report. Disparity index = utilization ÷ availability.
What this is
A preliminary read on whether Fairfax's supplier base and its spending line up.
A procurement disparity study asks a single, measurable question: do minority- and women-owned firms win public contracts in proportion to how many of them are ready, willing, and able to do the work? This portal answers a first-pass version of that question from public data, so the County can see the analytical approach before a single primary record is collected.
Availability comes from the U.S. Census Annual Business Survey for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria market, the relevant geographic market area Fairfax draws from. Utilization comes from Fairfax County's own FY23 SWaM report. The ratio of the two is the disparity index, where a value below 0.80 is the conventional flag for substantial underutilization.
The numbers below are real and computed, not placeholders. They are also preliminary. The methodology page is explicit about what a full, Croson-defensible study adds that public data cannot.
The preliminary signal
On public data, both indices sit far below the 0.80 threshold.
Minority-owned firms make up 37.2% of employer firms in the market but received 9.0% of FY23 SWaM-tracked spend, a preliminary index of 0.24. Women-owned firms show a similar gap. These are directional findings from a public-data proxy, not legal conclusions, and the gap is exactly what a full study is built to test and explain.
Preliminary disparity index by group
Utilization ÷ availability. Below 0.80 flags underutilization.
Source: ABS 2022 (availability) and Fairfax County FY23 SWaM Report (utilization).
Why House Strategies Group
This work needs new voices.
A handful of firms have produced most disparity studies for a generation, and the experience requirement the studies measure also guards the field. A study about open competition is more credible when the field that produces it is open too. House Strategies Group intends to be one of the new voices, and earn the seat with rigor, transparency, and local standing.
The analysis
The modules, one preliminary picture.
Each module is a self-contained piece of the disparity-study workflow, built so an evaluator can see exactly how House Strategies Group would run the study.