Tetra Tech accused of faking radiation data at San Francisco shipyard, settles for $57 million

Tetra Tech EC Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tetra Tech Inc., paid $57 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it fabricated work and falsified data used by the U.S. Department of the Navy to determine whether the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in the San Francisco Bay was free from harmful radiation, the Justice Department announced.

According to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the government alleged that under Navy contracts issued between 2003 and 2014, Tetra Tech was responsible for investigating soil and buildings at the shipyard and remediating areas with excessive radiation so the property could be transferred to the City of San Francisco for redevelopment. The government alleged that Tetra Tech instructed field technicians to discard soil samples collected from potentially contaminated locations, replace them with “clean” soil known to meet release criteria and submit the substituted samples for laboratory analysis. The complaint also alleged that the company intentionally manipulated scan results in its database to falsely represent that scans taken at different locations were performed by the same technician at the same time. The government alleged that Tetra Tech benefited from the misconduct by collecting unearned contract award fees and avoiding additional remediation work, thereby reducing its costs and increasing its profits.

“We expect companies contracting with the government to do business honestly and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, adding that the settlement reflects the department’s commitment to holding contractors accountable.

U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California said the shipyard cleanup has been a critical, decades-long priority for the Hunters Point community and the federal government, and that the settlement sends a message that contractors will be held accountable for knowingly defrauding taxpayers.

Acting Special Agent in Charge Brian Merkal of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s Economic Crimes Field Office said the alleged falsification of work and manipulation of data put Tetra Tech’s financial interests ahead of its obligations to the Navy, potentially placing public health and safety at risk.

The settlement resolves consolidated qui tam, or whistleblower, lawsuits brought by seven former Tetra Tech employees and contractors: Arthur R. Jahr III, Elbert G. Bowers, Susan V. Andrews, Archie R. Jackson, Anthony Smith, Donald K. Wadsworth and Robert McLean. They will collectively receive approximately $11.97 million as their share of the recovery. The case was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

Separately, the United States recovered $40 million through a settlement under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as Superfund, that was entered in the same federal court on July 2, 2025.

The Justice Department noted that the claims resolved by the $57 million settlement are allegations only and that there has been no determination of liability.