Tan Chethaketo

Tan Chethaketo, a minority-owned, Asian-Pacific American owned sole proprietorship based in Lowell, Massachusetts, provides translation, interpretation, and language-advisory services to the Department of State as a prime contractor exclusively on full-and-open BPA calls—21 awards across five blanket purchase agreements without set-aside designation.

Tan Chethaketo operates entirely within the language services category. All 21 recent awards fall under PSC H21 (Support—Administrative: Translation and Interpreting), with the vendor delivering translation and interpretation support to facilitate the Bureau of Administration's diplomatic operations, international meetings, and advisory engagements. The source characterizes Tan Chethaketo as having particular expertise in Khmer language capabilities. Representative work includes a $5,600 BPA call awarded October 1, 2023, through November 18, 2023, for translation and interpretation in Washington, D.C.; a $1,600 call with completion through February 4, 2025, for language services and advisory support; and smaller calls ranging from $110 to $4,668 for discrete translation and interpretation tasks.

Customer concentration is extreme. The Department of State Bureau of Administration accounts for 19 of 21 awards ($683 thousand combined potential value), with two additional State Department awards valued at $333 combined. The vendor holds no subcontract footprint and operates as a prime on all recent work. Across five active blanket purchase agreements, task order volume is modest: the most recent BPA (awarded October 1, 2024, with a $250,000 ceiling through September 30, 2026) has generated three task orders totaling $8,991; the prior BPA (awarded October 1, 2023, with a $150,000 ceiling) supported task orders totaling approximately $7,200. Earlier vehicles dating to 2022 show similar patterns of low per-call utilization against higher ceilings.

Activity has been volatile and remains sparse. The vendor received four awards in 2021 and 2022 combined, six in 2023, four in 2024, and two in 2025, with combined potential value across all twenty-one awards totaling only $683 thousand and combined obligated dollars at $33 thousand (5% of potential). No federal contract vehicles were held. The vendor competes on full-and-open procurement with no set-aside participation—all awards carry "No Set-Aside Used" designation. The concentration of work within a single customer agency, the modest scale of individual calls, and the wide gap between potential value and obligated spend signal a vendor providing ad-hoc language services for State Department operations rather than anchoring major strategic initiatives.