diff --git a/first-network/byfn.sh b/first-network/byfn.sh
index 04436ed91e..ffcc5392bc 100755
--- a/first-network/byfn.sh
+++ b/first-network/byfn.sh
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ export FABRIC_CFG_PATH=${PWD}
 # Print the usage message
 function printHelp () {
   echo "Usage: "
-  echo "  byfn.sh -m up|down|restart|generate [-c <channel name>] [-t <timeout>]"
+  echo "  byfn.sh -m up|down|restart|generate [-c <channel name>] [-t <timeout>] [-d <delay>] "
   echo "  byfn.sh -h|--help (print this message)"
   echo "    -m <mode> - one of 'up', 'down', 'restart' or 'generate'"
   echo "      - 'up' - bring up the network with docker-compose up"
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ function printHelp () {
   echo "      - 'generate' - generate required certificates and genesis block"
   echo "    -c <channel name> - channel name to use (defaults to \"mychannel\")"
   echo "    -t <timeout> - CLI timeout duration in microseconds (defaults to 10000)"
+  echo "    -d <delay> - delay duration in seconds (defaults to 3)"
   echo
   echo "Typically, one would first generate the required certificates and "
   echo "genesis block, then bring up the network. e.g.:"
@@ -106,7 +107,7 @@ function networkUp () {
     replacePrivateKey
     generateChannelArtifacts
   fi
-  CHANNEL_NAME=$CHANNEL_NAME TIMEOUT=$CLI_TIMEOUT docker-compose -f $COMPOSE_FILE up -d 2>&1
+  CHANNEL_NAME=$CHANNEL_NAME TIMEOUT=$CLI_TIMEOUT DELAY=$CLI_DELAY docker-compose -f $COMPOSE_FILE up -d 2>&1
   if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
     echo "ERROR !!!! Unable to start network"
     docker logs -f cli
@@ -295,13 +296,15 @@ OS_ARCH=$(echo "$(uname -s|tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'|sed 's/mingw64_nt.*/window
 # timeout duration - the duration the CLI should wait for a response from
 # another container before giving up
 CLI_TIMEOUT=10000
+#default for delay
+CLI_DELAY=3
 # channel name defaults to "mychannel"
 CHANNEL_NAME="mychannel"
 # use this as the default docker-compose yaml definition
 COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose-cli.yaml
 
 # Parse commandline args
-while getopts "h?m:c:t:" opt; do
+while getopts "h?m:c:t:d:" opt; do
   case "$opt" in
     h|\?)
       printHelp
@@ -313,6 +316,8 @@ while getopts "h?m:c:t:" opt; do
     ;;
     t)  CLI_TIMEOUT=$OPTARG
     ;;
+    d)  CLI_DELAY=$OPTARG
+    ;;
   esac
 done
 
diff --git a/first-network/docker-compose-cli.yaml b/first-network/docker-compose-cli.yaml
index 28e4b66eb4..25e64800f1 100644
--- a/first-network/docker-compose-cli.yaml
+++ b/first-network/docker-compose-cli.yaml
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ services:
       - CORE_PEER_TLS_ROOTCERT_FILE=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/peers/peer0.org1.example.com/tls/ca.crt
       - CORE_PEER_MSPCONFIGPATH=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/users/Admin@org1.example.com/msp
     working_dir: /opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer
-    command: /bin/bash -c './scripts/script.sh ${CHANNEL_NAME}; sleep $TIMEOUT'
+    command: /bin/bash -c './scripts/script.sh ${CHANNEL_NAME} ${DELAY}; sleep $TIMEOUT'
     volumes:
         - /var/run/:/host/var/run/
         - ./../chaincode/:/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/examples/chaincode/go
diff --git a/first-network/scripts/script.sh b/first-network/scripts/script.sh
index a49fbb73ff..43a308ed3d 100755
--- a/first-network/scripts/script.sh
+++ b/first-network/scripts/script.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ echo
 echo "Build your first network (BYFN) end-to-end test"
 echo
 CHANNEL_NAME="$1"
+DELAY="$2"
 : ${CHANNEL_NAME:="mychannel"}
 : ${TIMEOUT:="60"}
 COUNTER=1
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ updateAnchorPeers() {
 	cat log.txt
 	verifyResult $res "Anchor peer update failed"
 	echo "===================== Anchor peers for org \"$CORE_PEER_LOCALMSPID\" on \"$CHANNEL_NAME\" is updated successfully ===================== "
+	sleep $DELAY
 	echo
 }
 
@@ -93,7 +95,7 @@ joinWithRetry () {
 	if [ $res -ne 0 -a $COUNTER -lt $MAX_RETRY ]; then
 		COUNTER=` expr $COUNTER + 1`
 		echo "PEER$1 failed to join the channel, Retry after 2 seconds"
-		sleep 2
+		sleep $DELAY
 		joinWithRetry $1
 	else
 		COUNTER=1
@@ -106,7 +108,7 @@ joinChannel () {
 		setGlobals $ch
 		joinWithRetry $ch
 		echo "===================== PEER$ch joined on the channel \"$CHANNEL_NAME\" ===================== "
-		sleep 2
+		sleep $DELAY
 		echo
 	done
 }
@@ -150,7 +152,7 @@ chaincodeQuery () {
   # we either get a successful response, or reach TIMEOUT
   while test "$(($(date +%s)-starttime))" -lt "$TIMEOUT" -a $rc -ne 0
   do
-     sleep 3
+     sleep $DELAY
      echo "Attempting to Query PEER$PEER ...$(($(date +%s)-starttime)) secs"
      peer chaincode query -C $CHANNEL_NAME -n mycc -c '{"Args":["query","a"]}' >&log.txt
      test $? -eq 0 && VALUE=$(cat log.txt | awk '/Query Result/ {print $NF}')