Suspension or debarment may be coming to U.S Investigative Services, the largest contractor of background investigation services. The Justice Department filed a civil complaint against the company last week. The club of suspension or debarment is one Congress wants agencies to use more often. But doing that won’t necessarily make for better contracting. Rob Burton is a partner at the Venable law firm and former Deputy Administrator of Federal Procurement Policy.

More cold weather and snow is headed our way this week. The chatter about last week’s Polar Vortex blast is still resonating across the government. Federal News Radio Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says Katherine Archuleta has one of the toughest jobs in Washington this time of year.

Trimming overhead costs could help the Defense Department invest extra money in its most critical programs. Zina Merritt is director of Defense Capabilities and Management Issues at the Government Accountability Office. GAO is looking at how well DoD is meeting the goals of a department-wide initiative to save $100 billion by fiscal 2016.

After several years of governing by crisis, Congress is back to work this week with only one major crisis in front of it. And even that one may go away quietly. David Hawkings is senior editor at Roll Call and host of the Hawkings Here blog on RollCall.com.

The White House rewrites a 3-year-old bill to make spending data more transparent and accessible. And some open government advocates are less than happy with the administration’s suggestions to the Senate’s version of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, or DATA Act.