Ever since its founding 58 years ago, Pasadena-based engineering, infrastructure and information technology consulting services firm Tetra Tech Inc. has functioned on a project basis: Win a contract, bring workers and analytical tools to the project, maybe win a contract extension – and then it’s on to the next project.

The strategy has generally served Tetra Tech well: the company reported $5.2 billion in revenue last year (2024) and posted a record-high project backlog worth $5.4 billion as of Sept. 30.

But recently, Tetra Tech launched a new business line that doesn’t depend on individual projects: a subscription-based software package primarily aimed at helping existing and new customers in both the public and private sectors mitigate the damage from climate change-induced disasters.

The package has two main software programs: OceansMap, which is focused on ocean-based threats to customer operations, and FusionMap, which concentrates on the threats from land-based disasters.

Subscriptions start for as little as $2,000 a year, though they can substantially increase in cost depending on the complexity of the application and the degree of customization.

“This is the next frontier: Mitigating risks, providing more effective early warning systems (and) enabling more rapid response post disaster,” Leslie Shoemaker, executive vice president and chief innovation and sustainability officer for Tetra Tech, told analysts on the company’s most recent earnings conference call in November.

Turning work for clients into standalone software products

Shoemaker said in a subsequent interview that Tetra Tech has for decades been supplying this type of data to its clients, mostly for the duration of the project or contract. Over time, the programs got more sophisticated as satellite detection technology and analytical tools grew more powerful.

“We were controlling the use of the programs and data,” she said. “But then we thought it would be beneficial for our clients to have use of these products.”

The real game-changers on the technology side, Shoemaker said, have been the increasing use of artificial intelligence algorithms and more widespread deployment of satellites that can map in extreme detail the movements of ocean currents, river and flood flows and other phenomena.

“Now, you can process complex ocean modeling data in a matter of hours or minutes when it used to take days,” she said.

This capability is increasingly vital in a world where because of climate change, natural disasters are both becoming more frequent and intense. Also, because of the ever-expanding footprint of human development, more and more people and companies are now finding themselves in harm’s way.

Beyond supplying weather forecasts

Of course, companies and public agencies have long had subscriptions to weather forecasting models from companies such as State Park, Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather Inc. But Shoemaker said Tetra Tech’s FusionMap and OceansMap go beyond the programs and data that AccuWeather supplies.

“AccuWeather’s models can tell you how much it’s going to rain, where it’s going to rain and for how long it’s going to rain,” she said. “What AccuWeather can’t do, though, is map out where the runoff from that rain is going to pool and potentially disrupt rail or vehicular traffic operations, for example. Our software can do that.”

Also, she said, Tetra Tech’s programs have dashboards that combine data from several different models. The OceansMap software, for example, can combine ocean current data with storm tracking and wind forecasts to give a more complete picture.

“Having all that information in one place is of great help to shipping companies,” Shoemaker said.

In the conference call last November with analysts, Shoemaker said Tetra Tech recently signed agreements for commercial clients to use the software for their coastal and flood risk management programs that cover more than 75,000 square miles of water and land.

“Our users are also applying OceansMap subscription software to manage in real time the specialized mitigation response needed for offshore oil spills and chemical spills and rapid mobilization of mitigation strategies,” she added.

Fire protection boost

On the land side, Tetra Tech’s FusionMap can provide data on fire risks, such as the directions that wildfires are most likely to travel, satellite data that shows fire breaks and areas of brush clearance, and, after a fire, mapping out the debris fields from destroyed structures.

“This all helps with long-term preparedness before a fire strikes and rapid deployment after the fire hits,” she said.

So far, the fire protection aspects of Tetra Tech’s program have only been used in a few instances, such as for a client in Northern Canada.

How much this month’s wildfires in Tetra Tech’s backyard of Los Angeles County boost interest in the FusionMap product remains to be seen.

Other applications include mapping out the impact of weather events on operations of railroads, industrial sites and trucking routes, among other things.

Reaching beyond the current client base

To date, Shoemaker said, most of the customers for both the OceansMap and FusionMap products come from Tetra Tech’s existing client base, which consists of mostly large commercial, industrial and public agency clients.

Dan Batrack, Tetra Tech’s chief executive, said in the conference call that having these software programs should give Tetra Tech an edge when competing for contracts from both commercial and public sector clients.

“The new frontier for Tetra Tech is actually in the software solutions and the use of AI to make our business not only better internally, but to be a huge technical differentiator against any competitor in the marketplace,” Batrack told analysts in the company’s November conference call.

One of the analysts on that call focused on the reverse aspect of this: Tetra Tech’s existing client base is a natural market for these subscription services.

“I think (Tetra Tech’s) broad and close customer relationships that have been developed over decades will be helpful to offer these proprietary digital solutions developed by a leading science-based firm,” said Mike Dudas, partner focusing on engineering, infrastructure, metals and mining for Stamford, Connecticut-based Vertical Research Partners.

But Shoemaker said another aim of these subscription services is to reach beyond the company’s typical clientele.

“One of the great things about this, especially with the level of satellite data and AI, is that it makes it so much easier to democratize this information,” Shoemaker said.

One key market along these lines is small businesses in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing nations that Tetra Tech operates in through contracts with the United States Agency for International Development. That agency has recently come under criticism for routing most of its aid programs through contractors such as Tetra Tech and not enough through direct grants to businesses in the target nations.

“This software is affordable enough that it can help achieve one of USAID’s goals: providing solutions to various economies that they can then implement on their own,” Shoemaker said. “We can help businesses in these countries do some of this on their own.”