diff --git a/pyartcd/pyartcd/pipelines/build_sync.py b/pyartcd/pyartcd/pipelines/build_sync.py
index 91ebd4676c..8eb442f4b6 100644
--- a/pyartcd/pyartcd/pipelines/build_sync.py
+++ b/pyartcd/pyartcd/pipelines/build_sync.py
@@ -397,7 +397,13 @@ async def _tag_into_ci_imagestream(self, arch_suffix, tag):
             if self.runtime.dry_run:
                 self.logger.info('Would have executed: "%s"', cmd)
             else:
-                await exectools.cmd_gather_async(cmd)
+                try:
+                    await exectools.cmd_gather_async(cmd)
+                except ChildProcessError:
+                    # Concurrent oc tag calls may race to create the imagestream;
+                    # retry once so the second attempt tags into the now-existing imagestream.
+                    self.logger.warning('Retrying ocp-priv tag for %s-priv:%s after initial failure', self.version, tag)
+                    await exectools.cmd_gather_async(cmd)
 
     @start_as_current_span_async(TRACER, "build-sync.populate-ci-imagestreams")
     async def _populate_ci_imagestreams(self):
@@ -432,6 +438,7 @@ async def _populate_ci_imagestreams(self):
             await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
 
         except (ChildProcessError, KeyError) as e:
+            self.logger.error('Unable to mirror CoreOS images to CI for %s: %s', self.version, e)
             await self.slack_client.say(f'Unable to mirror CoreOS images to CI for {self.version}: {e}')
 
     @start_as_current_span_async(TRACER, "build-sync.update-nightly-imagestreams")