10e. Memo

Disparity Study

COMMISSION 
AGENDA MEMORANDUM                        Item No.          10e 
ACTION ITEM                            Date of Meeting     November 8, 2022 

DATE :     October 25, 2022 
TO:        Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director 
FROM:    David McFadden, Managing Director Economic Development 
Mian Rice, Director Diversity in Contracting 
Lisa Phair, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program Manager 
SUBJECT:   Disparity Study 
Amount of this request:                $300,000 
Total estimated project cost:            $300,000 
ACTION REQUESTED 
Request Commission authorization for the Executive Director to authorize staff to advertise,
procure, and execute a $300,000 Port of Seattle Disparity Study contract. This study complies to
the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) rules and regulations under the Federal Ninth
Circuit court of appeals directive for all entities receiving federal grant funds to have, in order to
use race-conscious goals on DOT’s federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program. 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
In 2018, the Port of Seattle established the Diversity in Contracting Policy Directive which
included resolution (3737) directing the Port to make affirmative efforts towards the utilization
of Woman and Minority Business Enterprises (WMBE).
This policy set a five-year WMBE utilization goal benchmark which involved the setting of a
Portwide WMBE aspirational goal of 15%, along with the goal of tripling of the number (#) of
WMBE businesses utilized to 354. On an annual basis, each department/division strives to attain
each goal. 
The end of 2023 will be the final full year of the five-year benchmark leading into 2024, which
will be the anticipated start of the new five-year WMBE goals. The conducting of a disparity study
will help inform the Port of its WMBE contracting utilization and will be utilized to assist in setting
the next Portwide five-year WMBE goals.  The study will also inform the Port’s Diversity in
Contracting (DC) department’s WMBE Program efforts related towards the targeting of its
outreach, trainings and workshop efforts to the underutilized women and minority businesses.

Template revised January 10, 2019.

             COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 10e                           Page 2 of 8 
Meeting Date: November 8, 2022 

Additionally, the disparity study will support the Port’s efforts related to the federal Disadvantage
Business Enterprises (DBE) program requirements for federally assisted contracts.  This would
include justification or modification of the federal DBE program’s race-conscious or race-neutral
activities.
The proposed Port study will analyze several years of the Port’s contracts in public works and
consulting services to determine whether there is disparity between availability of able and
willing minority and women owned firms and the historic levels of participation by such firms in
Port contracts, either as prime contractors or subcontractors. 
The last Disparity Study was conducted in 2019, with the study years surveyed between 2012 – 
2016 which was prior to the Port’s Diversity in Contracting Policy Directive and Resolution 3737.
The Port currently utilizes race-conscious goals/requirements on its Airport Improvement
Program (AIP) grant contracts.

JUSTIFICATION 
Background 
Diversity in Contracting 
In 2018, the establishment of the Diversity in Contracting policy directive was created due to
the Port finding that minority and women-owned businesses are under-represented and have
been under-utilized on Port contracts. The policy directive is to provide the maximum
practicable opportunity for increased participation by minority and women owned and
controlled businesses in Port contracting for public works, consulting services, supplies,
material, equipment, and other services to create the opportunity to leverage Port spend to
increase WMBE utilization. This policy had two main goals, with five-year benchmarks:
1.  Achieve 15% WMBE utilization by 2023; and 
2.  Triple the amount of WBME firms doing business with the Port – goal of 354 
Dating back to 2016, WMBE utilization was around 5%. Since that time the Port started to
identify ways to improve upon its contracting and outreach efforts showing a definite
improvement towards increased participation.



Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

             COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 10e                           Page 3 of 8 
Meeting Date: November 8, 2022 
WMBE      2016      2017     2018*     2019      2020      2021 
Utilization                                     (Start of
DC
Program) 
Percent        5.30%       8.80%        8.9%         10%        10.90        12.1 
Utilization 
Number of      118         200         258         296         318         344 
Firms 
In solidifying the Port’s efforts, the Diversity in Contracting program was established that
provided the baseline of conducting affirmative efforts to improve upon its contacting to WMBE
firms, while staying within the State and federal contracting laws. 
Those some of the improvements were: 
 Make its contracting opportunities more accessible to women- and minority-owned
businesses, including a review of business processes and insurance and bonding
requirements. 
 Ensure prompt payment to subcontractors. 
 Establishing Annual Port Wide WMBE Goals per each division 
 Leverage new and continue to build existing strategic stakeholder partnerships and
programs to provide effective outreach, training, and access to financial and business
resources. 
 Collaborating with the Port’s Central Procurement Office to re-review its contracting
policies 
 Communicating better with Central Procurement Office and Project Managers to better
forecast upcoming projects 
 Refined our PortGen program to better educate WMBE businesses on how do with the
Port 
 Implementing a targeted industry project specific related workshop 
 Establish a Mentor Protégé program 
A new study will continue to assist in identifying disparities within the WMBE contracting
community and may advise as to the available firms per the contracts the Port procures. This will
be very helpful in identifying future Port goals via Diversity in Contracting program efforts post
2023, and its next five-year benchmark goals.
The study will also provide compliance with federal regulations. The federal government requires
all transportation agencies to implement a federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)
Program if they receive U.S. Department of Transportation funds.  The DBE program is outlined
within the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 49 Part 26.
Once completed, how does the Disparity Study impact the Port? 

Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

             COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 10e                           Page 4 of 8 
Meeting Date: November 8, 2022 

These studies, depending on findings, allow us to conduct race-conscious contracting practices
and set minority and woman-owned business utilization goals.  Study findings, based on
industries utilized on past Port projects, will include research on the availability of firms in those
industries.  This research will help us to set utilization goals for future projects based on
availability of WMBE firms. This allows us to align contracting efforts with our equity interests. 
Further, a disparity study allows us to remain in compliance with FAA in terms of contracting with
disadvantaged business enterprise. To maintain this compliance, a new disparity study would
need to be conducted every 3-5 years in order to refresh utilization findings.
This would be the Port’s third disparity study, giving the Port a point of comparison from which
to determine utilization progress and identify further areas of need.
What   factors   are   considered   in   determining   whether   disparity   exists? 
Disparity is calculated in the form of an index. The disparity index is a ratio of the percentage of
utilization and the percentage of availability of M/WBE firms. If the disparity index is 100, the
utilization of M/WBE is leveled with the availability of M/WBEs in the market area. If the index is
less than 80, it indicates that M/WBEs are significantly underutilized by an entity based on
availability.  Indices  between  80  and  100  -  which  is  close  to  full  participation  indicates
underutilization though not significant. 
Previous Port of Seattle Disparity Study: 
The Port of Seattle, working with consultants Colette Holt & Associates , conducted a disparity
study in 2019 which sought to identify race and gender disparities in the awards of construction
and construction-related contracts between January 2012 and 2016. It compared the amount of
money for contracts related to construction projects that actually went to minority- and womenowned
business with the amount that would have been expected if such businesses were
included  at  the  same  rate  as  they  were  available  in  the  overall  pool  of  qualified
companies. Construction and construction-related contracts includes contracts both in direct
building activities and contracts for services such as Engineering and Architectural (A&E)
consulting. This examination included a combined review of 1,025 prime and subcontracts. The
market area was limited to the geographical borders of the State of Washington. 
Findings: 
The 2019 Disparity report indicated all “ethnic groups” have experienced contracting disparity
within either construction and/or construction-related professional services categories. 
A disparity ratio of 100 percent is considered parity, or in other words, each firm is receiving the
amount of business you would anticipate given their availability in the relevant market. A

Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

             COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 10e                           Page 5 of 8 
Meeting Date: November 8, 2022 
Disparity ratio under 80 percent signifies significant disparity. However, less than 100 may still be
evidence of exclusion. 
Native      White                Non-
Black      Hispanic    Asian                               WMBE 
American    Women              WMBE 
Disparity
Ratio          149.2%*   24.1%       13.1%     29.3%        14.3%       27.3%       109.1% 
*The study noted that one African-American firm received 84% of the minority contracts,
which is an anomaly. 
Study Recommendations 
⮚ Increase Program Resources 
o  Response: The Port has added an additional FTE to support the WMBE program 
⮚ Implement an Electronic Contracting Data Collection and Monitoring System 
o  Response: The Port upgraded its Procurement Roster Management System to
VendorConnect to better monitor contracting efforts 
⮚ Review Contract Sizes and Scopes 
o  Response: Continuing to unbundle where appropriate 
⮚ Adopt a Small Business Enterprise Mentor-Protégé Program 
o  Response: Port Developed a WMBE Business Accelerator Program 
⮚ Develop Performance Measures for Success 
o  Response: Port established through its Diversity in Contracting policy directive and
Resolution (3737) a five year WMBE percent and number of firms utilized goals;
and on an annual basis each division has WMBE aspirational goals per budget.
Diversity in Contracting 
The Diversity in Contracting Department is setting a 45% WMBE aspirational goal associated with
contract. 






Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

             COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 10e                           Page 6 of 8 
Meeting Date: November 8, 2022 
DETAILS 
Scope of Work 
The following scope of work is listed below 
Task                                             Deliverable 
Identify individuals responsible for supplying all contract
CONDUCT STUDY INITIATION MEETING 
data; communicate study data requirements. 
STUDYWEBSITE DEVELOPMENT            Go live with Study website; update website as need arises. 
Describe the legal and regulatory standards. Legal analysis
CONDUCT LEGAL ANALYSIS 
will be part of final report. 
Develop a contract data file to be incorporated into the
PERFORMUTILIZATION ANALYSIS 
final study report. 
Disparity findings will be incorporated into the final study
PERFORMDISPARITY ANALYSES 
report. 
PERFORM  ECONOMY-WIDE  DISPARITY  Economy-wide disparity findings will be incorporated in the
ANALYSIS                                final study report. 
Collect  qualitative  evidence  of  discrimination  through
COLLECT  QUALITATIVE  EVIDENCE  OF  public meetings, business owner/stakeholder interviews.
DISCRIMINATION                        The anecdotal findings will be incorporated in the final
study report. 
Evaluate the Port’s DBE programs through review of
relevant documents and interviews with agency staff,
REVIEW DBE PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION   stakeholders  and  business  owners.   DBE  program
administration findings will be incorporated in the final
study report. 
Draft study report for edits by the Port and a final report
PREPARE DRAFT AND FINAL STUDYREPORT;  based on edits. Presentation of findings. Information on
PRESENTATION OF STUDY AND FINDINGS    potential certified firms as identified throughout the study
process will be provided.
SCHEDULE 
Advertise:                            Q4 of 2022 
Consultant Selection:                Q1 of 2023 
Consultant Execution of Contract:    Q2 of 2023 Through Q1 2024 



Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

             COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 10e                           Page 7 of 8 
Meeting Date: November 8, 2022 
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED 
Alternative 1 – Do nothing, remain status quo
Cost Implications: $0 
Pros: 
(1)   Save time and money 
(2)   Can still use current (2019) disparity study through next year 
Cons: 
(1)   Limits applicability of current disparity study to next year 
(2)   Unresponsive to community concerns and Port equity initiatives 
This is not the recommended alternative. 
Alternative 2 – Conduct another combined Disparity Study with outside government entities who
receive FAA Federal AIP grant dollars 
Cost Implications: $ TBD 
Pros: 
(1) Study could cost less 
(2) Study still supports Port equity initiatives 
Cons: 
(1) It would not be a Port only study 
(2) Lose ability to conduct and control the competitive process 
(3) Additional bureaucracy with other government agencies processes to partner.
This is not the recommended alternative. 
Alternative 3 – Port only disparity study for approximately $300,000 
Cost Implications: $300,000 
Pros: 
(1) Port only study 
(2) Ability to conduct our own competitive process 
(3) Allow for race-conscious goal setting on specific projects 
(4) Supports Port equity initiatives 
(5) Keeps the Port in compliance with U.S. DOT’s DBE program rules and regulations 
(6) Informs Diversity in Contracting program effectiveness 
Cons: 
(1) Study could cost more due to available qualified consultants 
(2) Under risk if applying any project specific race-conscious DBE goals 
(3) Unresponsive to community concerns and Port equity initiatives 

Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).

             COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 10e                           Page 8 of 8 
Meeting Date: November 8, 2022 

This is the recommended alternative. 
Annual Budget Status and Source of Funds 
Funds for the Disparity Study will be made available through the 2023 Economic Development
Division budget. 

ATTACHMENTS TO THIS REQUEST 
(1)   Presentation 
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS 
November 28, 2017 – Commission authorized a $90,000 joint Disparity Study 
December 2, 2014 – Commission briefing on disparity study findings 
July 9, 2013 – Commission authorized a $300,000 contract to conduct a disparity study for 
period 2010 - 2013 











Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).



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