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

Module · 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. This page pairs a current preliminary read from the City's own open data with the official matrix from the 2020 study.

Preliminary, public-data-derived. Not a Croson-defensible finding.
The current indices combine public availability (Census ABS employer-firm counts) with certified-only utilization from the City's open spending data. Both lenses differ from the 2020 study's custom census, and certified-only utilization is a floor on true participation. These values are directional and subject to revision with primary contract and survey data. They do not establish discrimination or support a remedy on their own.
This is the surface read, by design
The index on this page divides a group's share of dollars by its share of firms. It is the basic measure any disparity study can produce, and it shows where to look. It does not, on its own, explain why a gap exists, where in the procurement process it arises, or whether it survives once legitimate differences in firm capability are accounted for. That deeper, causal work is the heart of our approach.
See how we go beyond the ratio
Minority-owned (City/State certified) index
0.64
util 9.9% ÷ avail 15.4%
Woman-owned (City/State certified) index
0.16
util 3.1% ÷ avail 20.2%
Threshold
0.80
below this flags underutilization

Preliminary current index by group

Citywide. FY25 certified utilization ÷ ABS 2022 availability, with the 0.80 threshold and parity marked.

Source: City of Boston discretionary-spending open data, FY25 (utilization) and ABS 2022, CBSA 14460 (availability).

The 2020 study's official matrix: index by group and industry

Each cell is the 2020 study's utilization divided by its availability for one group in one industry, on the 0-1 scale. Color runs from deep red (severe underutilization) to green (parity). No modeling assumption sits behind these cells; both inputs are the study's own published figures.

< 0.40 severe0.40–0.600.60–0.800.80–1.00≥ 1.00 parity
Group \ Industry clusterConstructionConstruction designOther professional servicesSupport servicesGoods and supplies
Total minority- and woman-owned
0.34
1.42
0.66
0.67
1.03
Total minority-owned
0.24
0.93
0.97
0.42
0.19
Non-Hispanic white woman-owned
0.37
1.82
0.34
0.95
1.51
Black American-owned
0.15
0.28
0.01
0.39
0.07
Hispanic American-owned
0.25
1.19
5.00
0.83
1.17
Asian American-owned
0.27
1.57
32.00
0.29
5.00

Source: 2020 City of Boston Disparity Study (BBC Research & Consulting), figures ES-3 and ES-6. FY2015-FY2019 contract and procurement dollars.

Why the 2020 matrix still matters
The matrix is the sharpest public picture of where Boston's disparities concentrated: construction at 0.34 for MWBE firms combined, Black American-owned firms below threshold in every industry, and goods and supplies at parity. The update's first analytical obligation is to rebuild this matrix on FY20-FY26 data with identical definitions, so every cell has a before and an after.
How to read a cell
A construction cell of 0.34 means total minority- and woman-owned firms received about 34 cents on the dollar relative to their availability in that industry, a reading of substantial underutilization. The full study attaches a statistical significance test and anecdotal corroboration to each cell.

Boston in context: official, current, and peer indices

Disparity index (utilization ÷ availability) across studies and lenses. Every one falls below the 0.80 threshold.

< 0.40 severe0.40–0.600.60–0.800.80–1.00≥ 1.00 parity

Source: U.S. Census ABS Company Summary 2022 and Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics 2022 (NES-D), CBSA 14460; 2020 City of Boston Disparity Study (BBC); City of Boston open data; peer disparity studies (WMATA/Keen 2021, Commonwealth of Virginia/BBC 2020).

Reading the comparison honestly
Disparity studies across jurisdictions consistently find indices below the 0.80 substantial-disparity threshold. Boston's official 2020 index of 0.65 sits in that range, and HSG's preliminary current reads from the City's own open data remain below threshold despite real post-2020 progress. The peer figures come from full primary-data studies; the preliminary values will be refined by transaction-level and survey data. The two preliminary Boston reads divide certified-only utilization by ABS firm-count availability; both lenses differ from the 2020 study's custom census, so the values are directional, not comparable one-for-one with the official 0.65.
What a defensible index requiresThe full 2020 baselineAvailability by sector in the explorer