Government awarded almost $19 million worth of contracts in August.The biggest spender was the Ministry of Public Works which tendered and awarded $13,862,572 worth of contracts in August, the largest of which is a $12.9 million contract for a steam turbine generator.The contract award details were listed in the Official Gazette yesterday.Another Public Works contract worth $106,000 went to Mid Atlantic Steel Supply for the fabrication and delivery of a steel catwalk at the Police Shooting Range.And two companies — R&W Hoist Ltd and Mundl-Service — won contracts worth $98,000 and $112,050 for “essential crane repairs” for the Tynes Bay Waste to Energy facility.Public Works also handed a contract worth $93,135 over a three-year period to local company Universal Electric.An intensive training course which saw 17 Bermudians become certified drywall mechanics cost close to $172,000, the listing revealed.That money went to the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia which conducted the training for the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry’s Drywall Training Programme launched in August in association with the Construction Association of Bermuda.It does not include the cost of travel and accommodation for the trainees.Participants in the four week course attended classes six days a week for ten hours a day.All but one of the graduates are already in gainful employment, it was announced last month.Economy Minister Patrice Minors has touted the programme as one of Government’s initiatives to keep Bermudians working.The Education Ministry awarded contracts worth $175,898 and $85,500 to Quest Consulting and Bermuda Microsystems respectively for replacement computers for preschool, primary, special and middle school classrooms, and administrative offices.And the Ministry of Transport tendered and awarded a $4.6 million contract to HL Pruitt for “visual slope segment penetration” believed to be a project at the airport.Government officials did not respond to requests for clarification by presstime last night.