diff --git a/src/coldfront_plugin_cloud/openshift.py b/src/coldfront_plugin_cloud/openshift.py
index 315846d..a22896a 100644
--- a/src/coldfront_plugin_cloud/openshift.py
+++ b/src/coldfront_plugin_cloud/openshift.py
@@ -304,7 +304,8 @@ def get_quota(self, project_id):
         cloud_quotas = self._openshift_get_resourcequotas(project_id)
         combined_quota = {}
         for cloud_quota in cloud_quotas:
-            combined_quota.update(cloud_quota["spec"]["hard"])
+            if quota_spec := cloud_quota["spec"].get("hard"):
+                combined_quota.update(quota_spec)
 
         return combined_quota
 
@@ -606,7 +607,10 @@ def _wait_for_quota_to_settle(self, project_id, resource_quota):
         resourcequota objects.
         """
 
-        if "resourcequotas" in resource_quota["spec"]["hard"]:
+        if (
+            resource_quota["spec"].get("hard")
+            and "resourcequotas" in resource_quota["spec"]["hard"]
+        ):
             logger.info("waiting for resourcequota quota")
 
             api = self.get_resource_api(API_CORE, "ResourceQuota")
diff --git a/src/coldfront_plugin_cloud/tests/functional/openshift/test_allocation.py b/src/coldfront_plugin_cloud/tests/functional/openshift/test_allocation.py
index 1cd3988..76229e0 100644
--- a/src/coldfront_plugin_cloud/tests/functional/openshift/test_allocation.py
+++ b/src/coldfront_plugin_cloud/tests/functional/openshift/test_allocation.py
@@ -566,3 +566,39 @@ def test_limitrange_defaults_update(self):
             ),
             [],
         )
+
+    def test_preexisting_project(self):
+        """Test allocation activation and validation when the project already exists on OpenShift."""
+        user = self.new_user()
+        project = self.new_project(pi=user)
+        allocation = self.new_allocation(project, self.resource, 1)
+        self.new_allocation_user(allocation, user)
+        allocator = openshift.OpenShiftResourceAllocator(self.resource, allocation)
+
+        project_id = allocator.create_project(project.title).id
+
+        self.assertEqual(allocator.get_quota(project_id), {})
+        self.assertEqual(allocator.get_users(project_id), set())
+
+        utils.set_attribute_on_allocation(
+            allocation, attributes.ALLOCATION_PROJECT_ID, project_id
+        )
+        utils.set_attribute_on_allocation(
+            allocation, attributes.ALLOCATION_PROJECT_NAME, project_id
+        )
+        tasks.activate_allocation(allocation.pk)
+        call_command("validate_allocations", apply=True)
+
+        self.assertEqual(
+            allocator.get_quota(project_id),
+            {
+                "limits.cpu": "1",
+                "limits.memory": "4Gi",
+                "limits.ephemeral-storage": "5Gi",
+                "ocs-external-storagecluster-ceph-rbd.storageclass.storage.k8s.io/requests.storage": "20Gi",
+                "ibm-spectrum-scale-fileset.storageclass.storage.k8s.io/requests.storage": "0",
+                "requests.nvidia.com/gpu": "0",
+                "persistentvolumeclaims": "2",
+            },
+        )
+        assert set([user.username]) == allocator.get_users(project_id)