diff --git a/src/bin/shipyard_airflow/shipyard_airflow/control/helpers/configdocs_helper.py b/src/bin/shipyard_airflow/shipyard_airflow/control/helpers/configdocs_helper.py
index dd63e65a..3d395d81 100644
--- a/src/bin/shipyard_airflow/shipyard_airflow/control/helpers/configdocs_helper.py
+++ b/src/bin/shipyard_airflow/shipyard_airflow/control/helpers/configdocs_helper.py
@@ -791,25 +791,25 @@ def _get_validations_for_component(url, design_reference, response,
                 CONF.requests_config.validation_connect_timeout,
                 CONF.requests_config.validation_read_timeout))
         # 400 response is "valid" failure to validate. > 400 is a problem.
+        LOG.debug("%s responded with status code %s", thread_name,
+                  http_resp.status_code)
         if http_resp.status_code > 400:
             http_resp.raise_for_status()
-        response_dict = http_resp.json()
-        response['response'] = response_dict
+        response['response'] = http_resp.json()
     except Exception as ex:
         # catch anything exceptional as a failure to run validations
-        unable_str = '{} unable to validate configdocs'.format(thread_name)
-        LOG.error("%s. Exception follows.", unable_str)
-        LOG.error(str(ex))
+        unable_str = ('{} unable to validate configdocs or an invalid response'
+                      ' has been returned').format(thread_name)
+        LOG.exception(unable_str)
         response['response'] = {
             'details': {
                 'messageList': [{
                     'message': unable_str,
-                    'kind': 'SimpleMessage',
-                    'error': True
-                }, {
-                    'message': str(ex),
-                    'kind': 'SimpleMessage',
-                    'error': True
+                    'kind': 'ValidationMessage',
+                    'error': True,
+                    'level': "Error",
+                    'diagnostic': '{}: {}'.format(
+                        ex.__class__.__name__, str(ex))
                 }]
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/bin/shipyard_airflow/tests/unit/control/test_configdocs_helper.py b/src/bin/shipyard_airflow/tests/unit/control/test_configdocs_helper.py
index 2ebda1d1..e3846254 100644
--- a/src/bin/shipyard_airflow/tests/unit/control/test_configdocs_helper.py
+++ b/src/bin/shipyard_airflow/tests/unit/control/test_configdocs_helper.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ from unittest.mock import patch
 import yaml
 
 import pytest
+import responses
 
 from .fake_response import FakeResponse
 from shipyard_airflow.control.base import ShipyardRequestContext
@@ -906,3 +907,117 @@ def test_get_revision_dict_last_site_action_and_successful_site_action():
     last_site_action = rev_dict.get(configdocs_helper.LAST_SITE_ACTION)
     assert successful_site_action.get('id') == 1
     assert last_site_action.get('id') == 2
+
+
+@responses.activate
+@mock.patch("shipyard_airflow.control.helpers.configdocs_helper.get_token",
+            return_value="1")
+def test_get_validations_for_component_200_null_body(*args):
+    """Tests the function used to call the remote validators
+
+    This is an error case - a 200 should include a response body per spec
+    """
+    url = 'http://shiptest/validate_empty'
+    design_reference = {}
+    response = {}
+    exception = {}
+    context_marker = "testing"
+    thread_name = "unittest"
+
+    responses.add(responses.POST,
+                  url,
+                  body=None,
+                  status=200)
+    configdocs_helper._get_validations_for_component(
+        url, design_reference, response, exception, context_marker,
+        thread_name)
+
+    ex_unable = ('unittest unable to validate configdocs or an invalid '
+                 'response has been returned')
+
+    assert response['response'] == {
+        'details': {
+            'messageList': [{
+                'message': ex_unable,
+                'kind': 'ValidationMessage',
+                'error': True,
+                'level': "Error",
+                'diagnostic': ('JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 '
+                            'column 1 (char 0)')
+            }]
+        }
+    }
+    assert exception['exception'].__class__.__name__ == "JSONDecodeError"
+
+
+def _exercise_get_validations_for_component_valid(resp_code, *args):
+    """Tests the function used to call the remote validators"""
+    url = 'http://shiptest/validate_{}'.format(resp_code)
+    design_reference = {}
+    response = {}
+    exception = {}
+    context_marker = "testing"
+    thread_name = "unittest"
+
+    valid_response = '{"response": "something"}'
+    responses.add(responses.POST,
+                  url,
+                  body=valid_response,
+                  status=resp_code)
+    configdocs_helper._get_validations_for_component(
+        url, design_reference, response, exception, context_marker,
+        thread_name)
+
+    assert response['response'] == {'response': 'something'}
+    assert exception == {}
+
+
+@responses.activate
+@mock.patch("shipyard_airflow.control.helpers.configdocs_helper.get_token",
+            return_value="1")
+def test_get_validations_for_component_valid_status_codes(*args):
+    """ test a 200 and 400 response code, as valid """
+    for sc in [200, 400]:
+        _exercise_get_validations_for_component_valid(sc, *args)
+
+
+@responses.activate
+@mock.patch("shipyard_airflow.control.helpers.configdocs_helper.get_token",
+            return_value="1")
+def test_get_validations_for_component_bad_status_404(*args):
+    """Tests the function used to call the remote validators
+
+    This is an error case - a 404 should not occur for the validate endpoint
+    """
+    url = 'http://shiptest/validate_404'
+    design_reference = {}
+    response = {}
+    exception = {}
+    context_marker = "testing"
+    thread_name = "unittest"
+
+    responses.add(responses.POST,
+                  url,
+                  body="Some string",
+                  status=404)
+    configdocs_helper._get_validations_for_component(
+        url, design_reference, response, exception, context_marker,
+        thread_name)
+
+    ex_unable = ('unittest unable to validate configdocs or an invalid '
+                 'response has been returned')
+
+    assert response['response'] == {
+        'details': {
+            'messageList': [{
+                'message': ex_unable,
+                'kind': 'ValidationMessage',
+                'error': True,
+                'level': "Error",
+                'diagnostic': ('HTTPError: 404 Client Error: Not Found for '
+                               'url: http://shiptest/validate_404')
+
+            }]
+        }
+    }
+    assert exception['exception'].__class__.__name__ == "HTTPError"