Module 1 · Market availability
Who is in the market
Availability is the denominator of every disparity index: the share of ready, willing, and able firms owned by each demographic group. These counts come from the U.S. Census Annual Business Survey, the most authoritative public source for firm ownership, for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria market.
Availability by owner group
Share of all employer firms in the RGMA, 2022
Source: U.S. Census Annual Business Survey, Company Summary 2022 (CBSA 47900). Retrieved 2026-06-16.
Availability trend, 2017 to 2022
Owner-group share of RGMA employer firms
Source: U.S. Census ABS Company Summary 2017 and 2022 (CBSA 47900).
Availability by industry cluster
Minority-, women-, Black-, and Asian-owned share of firms within each procurement-relevant cluster, RGMA 2022
Source: U.S. Census ABS Company Summary 2022, aggregated from 2-digit NAICS sectors. Cluster crosswalk on the methodology page.
Fairfax County vs. the broader market
Owner-group availability, share of employer firms, 2022
Source: U.S. Census ABS Company Summary 2022 (CBSA 47900 and FIPS 51059).
Reading availability correctly
Availability sets the bar utilization is measured against. Getting the denominator right is the single most contested element of any disparity study.
- Availability here is a group's share of all employer firms (ABS Total base), the conservative convention. The classifiable-only base yields modestly higher shares.
- ABS owner groups overlap. A firm can be both women- and minority-owned, so group shares do not sum to 100%.
- Public availability counts every firm equally. A full study weights for firm capacity, geography, and willingness to bid through a custom availability survey.