The recent uproar over the $535 million loan that the federal government gave to now-bankrupt Solyndra Inc., a manufacturer of photovoltaic panels, put government spending programs back in the spotlight.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided millions in funding for the construction or retrofit of federal buildings, Veteran Administration hospitals and military bases from 2009 to 2010. But according to information gathered by Electrical Marketing at www.fbo.gov, a website that tracks federal contracts, most of the government spending on electrical work at federal buildings is not funded now through the ARRA. However, EM found contract awards for at least $7 million in other contracts for electrical, utility and voice-data-video (VDV) products at www.fbo.gov.

Listed below are contracts of at least $100,000 that were posted recently on that website. Plenty of smaller contracts were awarded to electrical companies, too, including a $41,651,41 contract that Butler Supply Inc., Fenton, Mo., won to supply lighting equipment to a federal prison in Greenville, Ill.

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