What does 前が遅れているとのことで mean exactly?


Context:

> 今日は午前中に引っ越し業者がくる予定だったけど、 **前が遅れているとのことで**
> 午後から荷物を受け取ることになりました。荷物は比較的少なかったので引っ越し自体は30分で終わり、ただ荷解きに2時間かかりました。

I don't quite understand what "前が遅れているとのことで" means. May I ask two questions
about this phrase?

  1. What does "前" refer to? The previous task of the movers or something else?

  2. What exactly does "とのことで" mean? I guess it basically means "because"? Is "と" used to nominalize "前が遅れている"?




  1. Yes, this 前 refers to the mover's prior moving engagement of the day.
  2. It's [とのことだ](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%A0-to-iu-koto-da-%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AE%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%A0-to-no-koto-da-meaning/), but it's in its [te-form (for reason)](https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/te-form-cause-reason.html).

> 前が遅れている **とのことで**...
>
> **since they said** their previous job was running late, ...

