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 3 · Preliminary disparity index

Utilization measured against availability

The disparity index divides a group's share of spending by its share of the available firm base. A value of 1.0 is parity. Below 0.80, the convention used across disparity studies, flags substantial underutilization. These are preliminary, public-data-derived values.

Preliminary, public-data-derived. Not a Croson-defensible finding.
These indices combine public availability (Census ABS) with public utilization (the County's FY23 SWaM report). They are directional and subject to revision with primary contract and bid data. They do not establish discrimination or support a remedy on their own.
Minority-owned index
0.24
util 9.0% ÷ avail 37.2%
Women-owned index
0.19
util 4.9% ÷ avail 25.4%
Threshold
0.80
below this flags underutilization

Preliminary disparity index by group

Countywide. Utilization ÷ availability, with the 0.80 threshold and parity marked.

Source: ABS 2022 (availability, CBSA 47900) and Fairfax County FY23 SWaM Report (utilization).

Disparity index by group and industry cluster

Each cell is the index for one group in one procurement cluster. Color runs from deep red (severe underutilization) to green (parity).

< 0.40 severe0.40–0.600.60–0.800.80–1.00≥ 1.00 parity
Group \ Industry clusterConstructionProfessional & Technical ServicesInformation TechnologyGoods & CommoditiesOther Services
Minority-owned
0.26
0.25
0.39
0.24
0.21
Women-owned
0.47
0.17
0.33
0.23
0.18

Source: Availability by cluster from ABS 2022 (CBSA 47900). Utilization held at the countywide group level from the FY23 SWaM report (see assumption below).

The one assumption in the matrix
Fairfax does not publish utilization by industry category, so the matrix holds utilization at the countywide group level and lets availability vary by cluster. Both inputs are real public figures. The assumption is that diverse-spend rates are uniform across clusters, which the full study removes by reconstructing utilization from transaction-level contract data. Where availability is highest, the implied gap is widest.
How to read a cell
A construction cell of 0.26 means minority-owned firms are used at about 26 cents on the dollar relative to their availability in that cluster, a reading of substantial underutilization. The full study attaches a statistical significance test and anecdotal corroboration to each cell.
What a defensible index requiresIndex by sector in the explorer