With half of January already in the books and the days already beginning to stay light longer, we can begin to dream about warm spring months ahead. That is, until you walk out the front door and a blast of winter air hits your face. But so long as it is cold outside, why not curl up somewhere warm with a little light government contracts reading?

In this week’s SmallGovCon Week in Review, we bring you articles involving fraud charges, a rundown of some new legislation that could affect contractors, the potential elimination of DUNS codes, plus much more.

• Wire fraud and criminal forfeiture charges were handed out to a former research professor at the University of California San Diego and his corporation in federal court for allegedly fraudulently obtaining  millions of dollars in government grants and contracts. [Times of San Diego]
• Public Spend Forum brings you a quick rundown of some of the more interesting contracting bills now before Congress. [Public Spend Forum]
• A long-standing dispute over what a janitorial services nonprofit employing disabled people claims is a fixed, bid-rigging scheme by a government-approved agency that hands out contracts will be resurrected in Federal Court. [Courthouse News Service]
• A bill was introduced to increase fair and open competition on federal and federally funded construction projects by preventing federal agencies from requiring contractors to sign project labor agreements as a condition of winning federal and federally assisted construction contracts. [AZ Big Media]
• Is the government done with DUNS? An author discusses the prospects of a DUNS replacement. [Open Contracting Partnership]
• The GSA’s Connections 2 contract had a record-breaking 2015. [GSA]
• The House has passed a bill to modernize the Freedom of Information Act the wake of a report stating that FOIA is “broken.” [Federal News Radio]