Preliminary analysis prepared independently by House Strategies Group LLC from public data. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Fairfax County. Figures illustrate analytical approach and are subject to revision with primary data. Not a procurement-disparity finding.

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Preliminary · public data · independent of Fairfax County

Procurement 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 demonstrates the data, analytics, and visualization House Strategies Group brings to a disparity-study team.

0
Employer firms in the RGMA
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro
0.0%
Minority-owned firm availability
42,294 firms (ABS 2022)
0.0%
SWaM spend utilization
County + FCPS, FY23 SWaM report
0.00
Preliminary minority disparity index
Below the 0.80 threshold

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 a study team 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.

RGMA employer firms
113,780
ABS 2022, CBSA 47900
Fairfax County firms
25,040
ABS 2022, FIPS 51059
Minority-owned availability
37.2%
share of all RGMA firms
Women-owned availability
25.4%
share of all RGMA firms
SWaM utilization (FY23)
29.0%
County + FCPS PO spend
RGMA firm receipts
$1.05T
ABS 2022, employer firms

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).