The New Orleans Police Department is about to enter a deal that will provide it with a new crime lab, according to published reports.

The department has been without a crime lab since Hurricane Katrina forced the closure of its previous location on Tulane Avenue in New Orleans.

The new 10,000-square-foot lab would be located in a building at the University of New Orleans.

A spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department said the deal had not yet been finalized, while officials at the school said it was a "done deal," the Times-Picayune reported.

Lab cases have been worked on by private agencies and neighboring parish labs since the closing of the Tulane Avenue location, causing a lengthy backlog and costing the department more money.