The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) reported today that the Dallas ISD agreed to settle that the district violated the False Claims Act in relation to the E-rate program. More specifically, the DoJ claimed that Dallas ISD officials were involved in bid rigging and anti-competitive practices for E-rate contracts and accepted gratuities from various technology vendors. The school district’s former chief technology officer, Ruben Bohuchot, was convicted in July 2008 on related bribery charges.
Dallas ISD has not received any E-rate commitments since FY 2004. According to a Funds For Learning analysis, Dallas ISD has nearly $391 million in pending E-rate requests and must withdraw $150 million of that tied to the questionable requests. Dallas ISD will also be required to pay a fine of $750,000.
The DoJ News Release can be viewed here.
