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.
Module 6 · Regional benchmark library
How peers did it
Fairfax is not the first jurisdiction in this market to measure disparity. These peer studies set the methodological bar, name the firms that do this work, and show what credible findings look like in the same region.
The consultants behind these studies, Keen Independent, BBC Research, MGT, Mason Tillman, and Griffin & Strong, are the national primes for disparity work. House Strategies Group is built to sit on one of these teams as the Northern Virginia data, analytics, and visualization partner.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
2021
Keen Independent Research · Marketplace and DBE/SBE contracting
MBE/WBE utilization of 23% against an availability of roughly 48% for firms qualified and interested in WMATA contracts.
Customer Research International ran the custom availability survey; Keen Independent added in-depth firm and trade-association interviews. Disparities were larger on contracts carrying no DBE goal.
Relevance to Fairfax: Same regional marketplace as the proposed Fairfax RGMA. The survey-based availability denominator is the method public data cannot reproduce.
Minority- and women-owned firms were 32.8% of SWaM-certified businesses yet received 13.4% of contract dollars over five years.
Disparity indices of 40 (subcontract-plan contracts) and 46 (no-plan contracts) for minority and women firms combined. Substantial disparities for every racial, ethnic, and gender group on prime contracts. Subcontract plans did not measurably improve outcomes.
Relevance to Fairfax: Defines the statewide baseline and the SWaM certification framework Fairfax tracks against. Establishes the legal and statistical template for a Virginia study.
MGT Consulting Group · Public and private marketplace
County-level SWaMDV availability and utilization analysis in an adjacent Northern Virginia jurisdiction.
Examined how race, ethnicity, and gender affect a firm's ability to win contracts and subcontracts, acquire capital, and operate in Arlington's marketplace.
Relevance to Fairfax: The closest peer in geography and procurement scale. Directly comparable RGMA and supplier base to Fairfax.
BBC-Pantera-Tiber · Initiated 2021, released April 2023
Substantial disparities for minority- and women-owned firms across DC Government, Events DC, and UDC contracting.
Found disparities persisting despite the District's Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) program and other race- and gender-neutral measures.
Relevance to Fairfax: Anchor jurisdiction of the WAA metro and a core RGMA component. Demonstrates that disparities persist even with active local-business programs.
WSSC Water (Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission)
2022
MGT Consulting Group · FY2015-FY2019
M/WBE firms received 33.20% of procurement; non-M/WBE firms received 66.80%.
Analyzed utilization and availability, calculated disparities, and gathered anecdotal evidence from owners, associations, and staff. Commissioners adopted MBE program revisions on the findings.
Relevance to Fairfax: Large suburban-Maryland utility inside the RGMA. Useful comparator for goods, construction, and engineering procurement categories.
Civil Rights Division (49 CFR Part 26) · Ongoing DBE goal cycles
Federal DBE availability analysis and triennial overall goal-setting for federally assisted transportation contracts.
VDOT sets a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise goal based on the relative availability of ready, willing, and able DBE firms in its market, the same availability logic at the center of a disparity study.
Relevance to Fairfax: Shows the federal DBE methodology that complements a Croson-based local study and informs construction-sector availability in Virginia.
Across every peer study, the same pattern appears: minority- and women-owned firms are a substantial share of the available market and a much smaller share of the dollars. The preliminary Fairfax index points in the same direction, which is the case for a full study, not a substitute for one.