"We did get site and design money in the 2003 budget. What we don't know is when we will get money for the construction contract," Leonard Murphy, with the federal General Services Administration's Fort Worth office, tells GlobeSt.com.

Murphy said federal cuts in appropriations for courthouses across the country left Austin without the $45 million to $50 million needed to fund construction of the project. That funding request will be resubmitted as part of the 2005 federal budget, he said. If funding is approved in 2005, the project could begin construction in April of that year as scheduled, with completion slated for October 2007.

But Murphy said competition for funding, coupled with a scarcity of federal money, may mean Austin will not receive the full appropriation. "If something happens where we don't get as much funding as we need, there's the potential that it could (delay the project) another year," he said. "We're just taking it one step at the time at the moment."