Item No.:                         7a_supp 
Meeting Date:            December 2, 2014 
Port of Seattle 
Disparity Study Briefing 
Office of Social Responsibility (OSR) 
Study conducted by 
BBC Research & Consulting

Outline 
What is a Disparity Study? 
Commission Historical Context 
Key Terms 
Study and Results 
Opportunities and Recommendations 
Next Steps 
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What is a Disparity Study? 
What 
An in-depth analysis of the number of specified individuals or
groups who are available to participate in certain opportunities and
those that actually do. 
Purpose 
To help determine whether the environment is fair and equitable to
all parties involved, and support for remedies to address underrepresentation.
Mandatory Nature 
Disparity studies are not mandatory, except for race-conscious
measures in the Ninth Circuit Court Jurisdiction 

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Commission Historical Context 
Unanimous support & approval to conduct a Disparity
Study for construction and constructionrelated
professional services 
Expressed desire for increased Small Business
opportunities, and to better understand the level of
participation of minority and women-owned businesses 
Proactive encouragement to Port staff to be inclusive of
small and minority owned businesses in the future of
the Port's Small Business Program 

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Key Terms 
Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) 
Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE) 
Women-owned Business Enterprise (WBE) 
Small Business Enterprise (SBE) 


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Port Construction and Construction-related
Professional Services Contracts Funding Mix 
Federally Assisted: The Port can
influence DBE outcomes 
Approximately 10% of
these Port of Seattle
contracts are federally
assisted.                                                 Federally
Assisted
Locally
Approximately 90% of
Locally Funded:                        Funded
these Port of Seattle               Limited MWBE impact
due to I-200 
contracts are locally
funded. 

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Study And Results 



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Scope of Analysis 
Over 1,000 construction and construction-related professional services
contracts included in the study. 
Study period include contracts executed between January 1, 2010 and 
September 30, 2013. 
Dollars
Contract types                                   Number        (millions)
Construction                                                 681           $190
Construction-related Professional Services                       367               52
Total                                                      1,048            $242

Contracts review include those from 344 primes and 704 subcontractors 

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Key Elements of a Disparity Study 
Community engagement 
Legal analysis and framework 
Review of contracting, program measures 
Utilization analysis 
Focus of this
presentation               Availability analysis 
Disparity analysis 
Explanations for any disparities 
Analyses of marketplace conditions 
Recommendations and implementation 


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Utilization Analysis 
Percentage of construction, professional services dollars
that went to M/WBEs 
Percentage of construction &
professional service dollars 
Port data 
Prime Port contracts,
subcontracts 
Utilized vendors 
Other information 
Telephone surveys 
Business information 
Lines of work 
Year established 
Race/ethnicity and gender 
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Availability Analysis 
Percentage of contract dollars that M/WBEs ready, willing,
able to perform 
Relative availability of M/WBEs 
Port data sources                                    Availability
Prime contracts,                    Race/ethnicity and gender          Estimate
subcontracts 
Other information                   Black American-owned                 2.4 %
Asian-Pacific American-owned                     2.2
Telephone surveys 
Subcontinent Asian American-owned              1.8
Lines of work 
Hispanic American-owned                       4.8
Contractor role 
Native American-owned                         2.4
Year established 
Total MBE                                  13.7 %
Relative capacity 
Qualifications and interest           WBE (white women-owned)               4.5
Race/ethnicity and gender             Total MBE/WBE                   18.2 %
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Disparity Analysis 
Index that compares utilization to availability on study
contracts 
10% 
M/WBE UTILIZATION 
x 100        56
18%     Disparities of 100 or more include parity,
the state of being equal. 
M/WBE AVAILABILITY 
Disparities of 80 or less considered
substantial according to several courts,
noted by acceptance as evidence for
adverse conditions for MBE/WBEs. 
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Overall Disparity Indices 
*Index of 96 driven by one Black
24                                            American-owned business that
received 80 percent of the total
dollars that went to Black
American-owned businesses.
Otherwise, index of 24. 





Disparities of 100 or more include parity 
Disparities of 80 or less considered substantial 
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Results by Type of Contract 

Disparities of 100 or
more include parity 
Disparities of 80 or less
considered substantial 

**Construction-related Professional
Services includes architectural and
engineering contracting. 



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General Observations 
Use results to set overall DBE goal, inform program measures 
Consider tracking participation of MBE/WBEs 
Ensure SBE/DBE/MBE/WBEs receive committed work 
Enforce prompt payment policies 
Explore partnerships to encourage MBE/WBE participation 

15

OSR Recommendations and Next Steps 
Assist Port division leaders in setting meaningful annual
small business and MBE goals 
Develop and Implement a Training & Capacity Building
Program (Accelerator program) 
Rebrand and refresh the Port's Small Business Program to
"Small Business & Inclusion Program" 
Update the Small Business Resolution (No. 3618) 
Consider Race-and-Gender conscious within our Federal DBE
program 

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Recommendations and Next Steps Continued 
Continue collaborative work with stakeholders: 
Public Agencies 
Small Business Group, which includes: 
Community Representatives 
Capital Development Division 
Central Procurement Office 
Commission Office 
Report back to Commission on outreach progress in 6 months 
Conduct another disparity study in three-five years 

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Thank you! 
Questions? 

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