Boulder County and the City of Boulder are working together to identify whether there is a level playing field for small and diverse businesses in public contracts and in the local marketplace.
The city and the county performed a disparity study to examine participation of small, minority- and woman-owned firms in county and city contracts.
A disparity study is a tool to determine if a government’s procurement procedures either actively or passively discriminate against small, minority- or women-owned business. This analysis identifies the availability of small, minority- and women-owned businesses in the marketplace, measures the presence of diversity in procurements and determines whether there is a disparity between availability of and contracts awarded to those businesses.
The City of Boulder and Boulder County will use the disparity study to understand and document any barriers or systemic inequities that may exist.
The study will serve as the basis for the City of Boulder's goals related to minority- and women-owned businesses. The study will help the city spur economic development in historically excluded communities and address longstanding systematic inequities.
The City of Boulder and Boulder County have contracted with research firm Keen Independent Research to conduct the disparity study.
The study examined procurement data from the city and the county between 2018 and 2022. Keen Independent conducted surveys and interviews with over 550 businesses to analyze women- and minority-owned business availability and experiences contracting or applying for contracts.
