Only one issue – money – stands in the way of completing the District of Columbia’s critical crime lab on the promised timeline, a key official in Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration said Friday.

Neil Albert, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, confirmed that Fenty will request $31.14 million from the federal government in fiscal 2009 to fill the last funding gap in the $219 million project. The remaining dollars, including $28 million already collected from the feds, are waiting to be spent.