Overhead costs have consumed more than half the money spent on some reconstruction projects in Iraq, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

Although security costs are high, the IG said the main reason for the soaring overhead expenses was down time: U.S. officials ordered contractors to assemble their personnel and equipment in Iraq, then made them wait for months before beginning work. In the meantime, the contractors had to pay, feed, house and protect their idle workers.

But the amount of overhead varied widely among different contracts, ranging from 17% to 55%, The New York Times reported.

Congress has appropriated $18.4 billion for Iraq reconstruction.

At least 641 contractors have been killed in Iraq and 10 times that many have been injured, according to figures compiled by the Labor Department.

But the Boston Globe reports the numbers may be far higher, because no federal agency keeps track of contractor casualties. The Labor Department figures come from insurance claims of employees working on U.S. contracts in Iraq.

The newspaper said a website, icasualties.org, has identified about 40% of the dead as truck drivers or security specialists.

ABC News aired video last month showing U.S. military vehicles speeding away after a convoy was ambushed, leaving two disabled civilian trucks and their drivers behind. The truck driver who shot the video said both drivers were killed.

After the video was broadcast, Kellogg Brown & Root, which employs many drivers in Iraq, issued a statement saying, “In fact, during the training process, we spend most of our time giving recruits all the reasons they should NOT accept this job.”

SBA is considering granting a waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule for personal computer manufacturing, NAICS 334111. The agency says it believes no small business manufacturers are supplying PCs to the government.

Comments on the poposed waiver are due by Oct. 27.