The District’s long-delayed $140 million crime laboratory has cleared a vital hurdle after a city appellate board turned aside a complaint by a local builder, protesting the contract to a rival.

Tompkins Builders had claimed it could offer a crime lab cheaper and faster than rival Whiting-Turning Contracting Co., but D.C.’s contract appeals board ruled against it. The way is now clear for the city to break ground on its own lab.