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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20554
Enforcement Bureau
Investigations and Hearings 
Division
March 22, 2012

DA 12-452

SENT VIA CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
AND EMAIL

Ms. Gloria F. Harper
c/o Ms. Cynthia Marie Cimino
Federal Public Defender
Hale Boggs Federal Building
500 Poydras St., Room 318
New Orleans, LA 70130

Re:  

Notice of Suspension and Initiation of Debarment Proceeding
File No. EB-12-IH-0400
Dear Ms. Harper:
The Federal Communications Commission (Commission or FCC) has received notice 
of your guilty plea for conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C § 371 
in connection with your participation in the federal schools and libraries universal service 
support mechanism (E-Rate program).1 Consequently, pursuant to 47 C.F.R. § 54.8, this 
letter constitutes official notice of your suspension from the E-Rate program.2 In addition, 
the Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) hereby notifies you that the Bureau will commence 
debarment proceedings against you.3
 
 
1 Any further reference in this letter to “your conviction” refers to your guilty plea and subsequent sentencing 
for conspiracy to defraud the United States in United States v. Gloria F. Harper, Criminal Docket No. 2:10-cr-
00326-CJB-ALC, Plea Agreement (E.D. La. filed June 2, 2011 and entered June 6, 2011) (Plea Agreement).
2 47 C.F.R. § 54.8.
3 Id. § 0.111 (delegating to the Enforcement Bureau authority to resolve universal service suspension and 
debarment proceedings).  The Commission adopted debarment rules for the E-Rate program in 2003.  See 
Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism, Second Report and Order and Further Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking, 18 FCC Rcd 9202 (2003) (Second Report and Order) (adopting Section 54.521 to 
suspend and debar parties from the E-Rate program).  In 2007 the Commission extended the debarment rules to 
apply to all federal universal service support mechanisms.  Comprehensive Review of the Universal Service 
Fund Management, Administration, and Oversight; Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service; Schools 
and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism; Rural Health Care Support Mechanism; Lifeline and Link 
Up; Changes to the Board of Directors for the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc., Report and Order, 
22 FCC Rcd 16372, App. C at 16410-12 (2007) (Program Management Order) (renumbering Section 54.521 of 
the universal service debarment rules as Section 54.8 and amending subsections (a)(1), (a)(5), (c), (d), (e)(2)(i), 
(e)(3), (e)(4), and (g)).

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Ms. Gloria F. Harper
March 22, 2012
Page 2

I.

Notice of Suspension

The Commission has established procedures to prevent persons who have “defrauded 
the government or engaged in similar acts through activities associated with or related to the 
[E-Rate program]” from receiving the benefits associated with that program.4 Schools may 
receive E-Rate program funding for eligible goods and services by filing application forms, 
seeking competitive bids, and selecting the most cost-effective vendor.5 The E-Rate program 
rules require school applicants to pay a percentage of the total cost of eligible goods and 
services requested for funding.6 The E-Rate program rules prohibit an E-Rate vendor or 
anyone associated with an E-Rate vendor from participating in the application process or 
vendor selection.7
On June 6, 2011, you pled guilty to knowingly and willfully orchestrating multiple 
fraudulent schemes and conspiring with others to defraud the E-Rate program through the 
submission of materially false and fraudulent documents, concealment of material facts, and 
obstruction and manipulation of the competitive bidding process involving schools and 
school districts located in six states.8  You participated in the conspiracy as the owner of 
Computer Training and Associates (CTA) and co-owner of Global Networking 
Technologies, Inc. (GNT).9  Specifically, from approximately December 2001 through 
September 2005, you and a co-conspirator violated E-Rate program rules by completing, 
submitting, and fraudulently signing E-Rate program applications (FCC Forms 470, 471, and 
486) on behalf of school applicants.10 You also conspired to bribe school officials in 
exchange for their ceding control of the schools’ competitive bidding processes to your 
companies.11 In further violation of the E-Rate rules, you promised school applicants that 
 
 
4 Second Report and Order, 118 FCC Rcd at 9225, para. 66; Program Management Order, 22 FCC Rcd at 
16387, para. 32.  The Commission’s debarment rules define a “person” as “[a]ny individual, group of 
individuals, corporation, partnership, association, unit of government or legal entity, however organized.”  
47 C.F.R. § 54.8(a)(6).
5 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.504, 54.511(c).
6 Id. §§ 54.505, 54.523.
7 See Request for Review by Mastermind Internet Services, Inc., Federal-State Joint Board on Universal 
Service, Changes to the Board of Directors of the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc., CC Docket No. 
96-45, Order, 16 FCC Rcd 4028, 4032-33 paras. 10-12 (2000) (Mastermind Order) (finding that when an 
applicant surrenders control of the bidding process to an employee of an entity that will also participate in the 
bidding process as a prospective service provider, the applicant irreparably impairs its ability to hold a fair and 
open competitive bidding process); see also Universal Service Administrative Company’s description of an 
Open and Fair Competitive Bidding Process at http://www.universalservice.org/sl/applicants/step03/run-open-
fair-competition.aspx.
8 Plea Agreement at 4–5.  The conspiracy involved schools and school districts located throughout Arkansas, 
Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Texas.  See Appendix.
9 See United States v. Gloria F. Harper, Criminal Docket No. 2:10-cr-00326-CJB-ALC, Factual Basis at 2, 4 
(E.D. La. filed June 2, 2011) (Factual Basis).
10 Id.  
11 Id. at 3.  These bribes included $28,500 in payments to school officials in Louisiana and Arkansas; a $79,382 
payment to a school agent in Florida; and a $10,000 payment to a school agent in Illinois.  Id. at 3-4.

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Ms. Gloria F. Harper
March 22, 2012
Page 3
their required payments would be waived if they chose CTA or GNT as the schools’ E-Rate 
service provider.12 You also did not disclose your involvement in the application process or 
the promised waivers to the Universal Service Administrative Company.13 CTA and GNT 
directly benefited from your fraudulent schemes by receiving approximately $4.5 million in 
E-Rate contracts.14 These actions constitute the conduct or transactions upon which this 
suspension notice and proposed debarment are based.15
On February 9, 2012, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of 
Louisiana sentenced you to serve 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised 
release for conspiring to defraud the federal E-Rate program in multiple states.16 The court 
also ordered you to pay a $100 special assessment.17
Pursuant to Section 54.8(b) of the Commission’s rules,18 upon your conviction the 
Bureau is required to suspend you from participating in any activities associated with or 
related to the E-Rate program, including the receipt of funds or discounted services through 
the E-Rate program, or consulting with, assisting, or advising applicants or service providers 
regarding the E-Rate program.19 Your suspension becomes effective upon receipt of this 
letter or publication of notice of the letter in the Federal Register, whichever comes first.20
In accordance with the Commission’s suspension and debarment rules, you may contest 
this suspension or the scope of this suspension by filing arguments, with any relevant 
documents, within thirty (30) calendar days after receipt of this letter or after publication of 
notice of it in the Federal Register, whichever comes first.21 Such requests, however, will not 
ordinarily be granted.22 The Bureau may reverse or limit the scope of suspension only upon 
 
 
12 Factual Basis at 4; see also United States v. Gloria F. Harper, Criminal Docket No. 2:10-cr-00326-CJB-
ALC, Information at 7 (E.D. La. filed Nov. 18, 2011).
13 Factual Basis at 4.
14 Id.
15 Second Report and Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 9226, para. 70; 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(e)(2)(i).  The Bureau has already 
debarred two co-conspirators, Tyrone Pipkin and Barrett C. White, from participating in the E-Rate program.  
See Tyrone Pipkin, File No. EB-11-IH-1071, Notice of Debarment, 26 FCC Rcd 16822 (Enf. Bur. 2011); 
Barrett C. White, Notice of Debarment, 26 FCC Rcd 16047 (Enf. Bur. 2011); see also Justice News, DEP’T OF 
JUSTICE, Former Owner of Illinois Technology Company Sentenced to Serve 30 Months in Prison for Role in 
Multi-State Scheme to Defraud Federal E-Rate Program, February 9, 2012, at
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/February/12-at-189.html.
16 United States v. Gloria F. Harper, Criminal Docket No. 2:10-cr-00326-CJB-ALC, Judgment at 2-3 (filed 
Feb. 9, 2012).  The prison term will run concurrent with any sentence imposed in the Northern District of 
Illinois, Criminal Docket No. 11-479.  Id. at 2.
17 Id. at 5.
18 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(b); see Second Report and Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 9225-27, paras. 67–74.
19 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(a)(1), (d).
20 Second Report and Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 9226, para. 69; 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(e)(1).
21 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(e)(4).
22 Id.

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Ms. Gloria F. Harper
March 22, 2012
Page 4
a finding of extraordinary circumstances.23 The Bureau will decide any request to reverse or 
modify a suspension within ninety (90) calendar days of its receipt of such request.24

II.

Initiation of Debarment Proceedings

As discussed above, your guilty plea and conviction of criminal conduct in connection 
with the E-Rate program is the basis for your immediate suspension from the program as 
well as a basis to commence debarment proceedings against you.  Conviction of criminal 
fraud is cause for debarment as defined in Section 54.8(c) of the Commission’s rules.25  
Therefore, pursuant to Section 54.8(b) of the rules, your conviction requires the Bureau to 
commence debarment proceedings against you.26
As with the suspension process, you may contest the proposed debarment or the scope 
of the proposed debarment by filing arguments and any relevant documentation within thirty 
(30) calendar days of receipt of this letter or publication of notice of it in the Federal 
Register, whichever comes first.27 The Bureau, in the absence of extraordinary 
circumstances, will notify you of its decision to debar within ninety (90) calendar days of 
receiving any information you may have filed.28 If the Bureau decides to debar you, its 
decision will become effective upon either your receipt of a debarment notice or publication 
of the decision in the Federal Register, whichever comes first.29
If and when your debarment becomes effective, you will be prohibited from 
participating in activities associated with or related to the E-Rate program for three years 
from the date of debarment.30 The Bureau may set a longer debarment period or extend an 
existing debarment period if necessary to protect the public interest.31
 
 
23 Id. § 54.8(f).
24 See Second Report and Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 9226, para. 70; 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(e)(5).
25 “Causes for suspension and debarment are conviction of or civil judgment for attempt or commission of 
criminal fraud, theft, embezzlement, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false 
statements, receiving stolen property, making false claims, obstruction of justice and other fraud or criminal 
offense arising out of activities associated with or related to the schools and libraries support mechanism, the 
high-cost support mechanism, the rural healthcare support mechanism, and the low-income support 
mechanism.”  47 C.F.R. § 54.8(c).  Associated activities “include the receipt of funds or discounted services 
through [the federal universal service] support mechanisms, or consulting with, assisting, or advising applicants 
or service providers regarding [the federal universal service] support mechanisms.”  Id. § 54.8(a)(1).
26 Id. § 54.8(b).
27 Second Report and Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 9226, para. 70; 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(e)(3).
28 Second Report and Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 9226, para. 70; 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(e)(5).
29 Id.  The Commission may reverse a debarment, or may limit the scope or period of debarment, upon a finding 
of extraordinary circumstances, following the filing of a petition by you or an interested party or upon motion 
by the Commission.  Id. § 54.8(f).
30 Second Report and Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 9225, para. 67; 47 C.F.R. § 54.8(d), (g).
31 Id. § 54.8(g).

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Ms. Gloria F. Harper
March 22, 2012
Page 5
Please direct any response, if sent by messenger or hand delivery, to Marlene H. 
Dortch, Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room TW-
A325, Washington, D.C. 20554, to the attention of Joy M. Ragsdale, Attorney Advisor, 
Investigations and Hearings Division, Enforcement Bureau, Room 4-A236, with a copy to 
Theresa Z. Cavanaugh, Acting Division Chief, Investigations and Hearings Division, 
Enforcement Bureau, Room 4-C322, Federal Communications Commission.  All messenger 
or hand delivery filings must be submitted without envelopes.32 If sent by commercial 
overnight mail (other than U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Express Mail and Priority Mail), the 
response must be sent to the Federal Communications Commission, 9300 East Hampton 
Drive, Capitol Heights, Maryland 20743.  If sent by USPS First Class, Express Mail, or 
Priority Mail, the response should be addressed to Joy Ragsdale, Attorney Advisor, 
Investigations and Hearings Division, Enforcement Bureau, Federal Communications 
Commission, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 4-A236, Washington, D.C. 20554, with a copy to 
Theresa Z. Cavanaugh, Acting Division Chief, Investigations and Hearings Division, 
Enforcement Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 4-
C322, Washington, D.C. 20554.  You shall also transmit a copy of your response via e-mail 
to Joy M. Ragsdale, joy.ragsdale@fcc.gov and to Theresa Z. Cavanaugh, 
Terry.Cavanaugh@fcc.gov.
If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Ragsdale via U.S. postal mail, e-mail, or 
by telephone at (202) 418-1697.  You may contact me at (202) 418-1553 or at the e-mail 
address noted above if Ms. Ragsdale is unavailable.
Sincerely yours,
Theresa Z. Cavanaugh
Acting Chief
Investigations and Hearings Division
Enforcement Bureau
cc:  Johnnay Schrieber, Universal Service Administrative Company (via e-mail)
Rashann Duvall, Universal Service Administrative Company (via e-mail)
Juan Rodriguez, Antitrust Division, United States Department of Justice (via e-mail)
Stephanie Toussaint, Antitrust Division, United States Department of Justice (via e-mail)
 
 
32 See FCC Announces Change in Filing Location for Paper Documents, Public Notice, 24 FCC Rcd 14312 
(2009) for further filing instructions.

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