The part of a sentence "delay in preparing" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to refer to a period of time in which something did not happen as soon as it should have. For example: "We experienced a delay in preparing for the meeting".
There was a shortened field as six teams – including the British entry – failed to take part due to a delay in preparing the new Ferrari-powered A1GP cars.
No reason, except inconvenience of the officers and delay in preparing papers and getting before a magistrate, appears for the failure to seek a search warrant.
All of that prompted the F.D.A. to re-evaluate the training program, contributing to a delay in preparing the inspectors to enforce the new safety rule.
A delay in preparing 18th Infantry Brigade's camp in the Hunter Region meant that it was not concentrated there until December.
There ere also the limitation of the publication delay due to the delay in preparing the manuscript and the submission.
But in a sharply worded statement, he criticized the authority for delays in preparing sites for construction.
Sierra Club asserted that the delays in preparing the reports undermined the purpose of the reporting requirements, which Sierra Club said was to ensure that the Renewable Fuel Standard program was addressing climate change without adversely affecting the environment.
A $600 million program to buy handheld devices and create an automated network to collect data for the 2010 Census faces major cost overruns and could cause delays in preparing for the nationwide head count.
Last-minute delays in preparing the E-Type coupe for the auto show made it necessary to drive the car from Jaguar's Coventry headquarters, in the British Midlands, some 700 miles to Geneva.
Looking particularly at his doubts and delays in preparing for war and then declaring it, you might think you are seeing a more cautious figure than the intemperate warmonger sometimes portrayed, and thus a leader who might have been won over.
An accounting firm retained by the husband delayed in preparing the couple's income tax returns for four years.
