diff --git a/designate/api/__init__.py b/designate/api/__init__.py
index c0a60284f..94ce519b0 100644
--- a/designate/api/__init__.py
+++ b/designate/api/__init__.py
@@ -68,6 +68,9 @@ api_v2_opts = [
                     'means show all results by default'),
     cfg.IntOpt('max-limit-v2', default=1000,
                help='Max per-page limit for the V2 API'),
+    cfg.BoolOpt('quotas-verify-project-id', default=False,
+                help='Verify that the requested Project ID for quota target '
+                'is a valid project in Keystone.'),
 ]
 
 api_admin_opts = [
diff --git a/designate/api/v2/controllers/quotas.py b/designate/api/v2/controllers/quotas.py
index 837274eef..07882a816 100644
--- a/designate/api/v2/controllers/quotas.py
+++ b/designate/api/v2/controllers/quotas.py
@@ -14,9 +14,11 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 import pecan
+from oslo_config import cfg
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 
 from designate.api.v2.controllers import rest
+from designate.common import keystone
 from designate.objects.adapters import DesignateAdapter
 from designate.objects import QuotaList
 
@@ -52,6 +54,13 @@ class QuotasController(rest.RestController):
         context = request.environ['context']
         body = request.body_dict
 
+        # NOTE(pas-ha) attempting to verify the validity of the project-id
+        # on a best effort basis
+        # this will raise only if KeystoneV3 endpoint is not found at all,
+        # or the creds are passing but the project is not found
+        if cfg.CONF['service:api'].quotas_verify_project_id:
+            keystone.verify_project_id(context, tenant_id)
+
         quotas = DesignateAdapter.parse('API_v2', body, QuotaList())
 
         for quota in quotas:
diff --git a/designate/cmd/api.py b/designate/cmd/api.py
index ac87f1eb8..7f5874d7c 100644
--- a/designate/cmd/api.py
+++ b/designate/cmd/api.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from oslo_config import cfg
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 from oslo_reports import guru_meditation_report as gmr
 
+from designate.common import keystone
 from designate import hookpoints
 from designate import service
 from designate import utils
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ CONF = cfg.CONF
 CONF.import_opt('workers', 'designate.api', group='service:api')
 CONF.import_opt('threads', 'designate.api', group='service:api')
 cfg.CONF.import_group('keystone_authtoken', 'keystonemiddleware.auth_token')
+keystone.register_keystone_opts(CONF)
 
 
 def main():
diff --git a/designate/common/keystone.py b/designate/common/keystone.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e7ca03617
--- /dev/null
+++ b/designate/common/keystone.py
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+# not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+# a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+# WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+# License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+from keystoneauth1 import exceptions as kse
+from keystoneauth1 import loading as ksa_loading
+from oslo_config import cfg
+from oslo_log import log as logging
+
+from designate import exceptions
+from designate.i18n import _
+
+
+CONF = cfg.CONF
+LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+keystone_group = cfg.OptGroup(
+    name='keystone', title='Access to Keystone API')
+
+
+def register_keystone_opts(conf):
+    conf.register_group(keystone_group)
+    ksa_loading.register_adapter_conf_options(conf, keystone_group)
+    ksa_loading.register_session_conf_options(conf, keystone_group)
+    conf.set_default('service_type', 'identity', group=keystone_group)
+
+
+def list_opts():
+    opts = ksa_loading.get_adapter_conf_options()
+    opts.extend(ksa_loading.get_session_conf_options())
+    return opts
+
+
+def verify_project_id(context, project_id):
+    """verify that a project_id exists.
+
+    This attempts to verify that a project id exists. If it does not,
+    an HTTPBadRequest is emitted.
+
+    """
+    session = ksa_loading.load_session_from_conf_options(
+        CONF, 'keystone', auth=context.get_auth_plugin())
+    adap = ksa_loading.load_adapter_from_conf_options(
+        CONF, 'keystone',
+        session=session, min_version=(3, 0), max_version=(3, 'latest'))
+    try:
+        resp = adap.get('/projects/%s' % project_id, raise_exc=False)
+    except kse.EndpointNotFound:
+        LOG.error(
+            "Keystone identity service version 3.0 was not found. This might "
+            "be because your endpoint points to the v2.0 versioned endpoint "
+            "which is not supported. Please fix this.")
+        raise exceptions.KeystoneCommunicationFailure(
+            _("KeystoneV3 endpoint not found"))
+    except kse.ClientException:
+        # something is wrong, like there isn't a keystone v3 endpoint,
+        # or nova isn't configured for the interface to talk to it;
+        # we'll take the pass and default to everything being ok.
+        LOG.info("Unable to contact keystone to verify project_id")
+        return True
+
+    if resp:
+        # All is good with this 20x status
+        return True
+    elif resp.status_code == 404:
+        # we got access, and we know this project is not there
+        raise exceptions.InvalidProject(
+            _("%s is not a valid project ID.") % project_id)
+
+    elif resp.status_code == 403:
+        # we don't have enough permission to verify this, so default
+        # to "it's ok".
+        LOG.info(
+            "Insufficient permissions for user %(user)s to verify "
+            "existence of project_id %(pid)s",
+            {"user": context.user_id, "pid": project_id})
+        return True
+    else:
+        LOG.warning(
+            "Unexpected response from keystone trying to "
+            "verify project_id %(pid)s - resp: %(code)s %(content)s",
+            {"pid": project_id,
+             "code": resp.status_code,
+             "content": resp.content})
+        # realize we did something wrong, but move on with a warning
+        return True
diff --git a/designate/context.py b/designate/context.py
index f21265240..45c0b86aa 100644
--- a/designate/context.py
+++ b/designate/context.py
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 import itertools
 import copy
 
+from keystoneauth1.access import service_catalog as ksa_service_catalog
+from keystoneauth1 import plugin
 from oslo_context import context
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 
@@ -40,10 +42,11 @@ class DesignateContext(context.RequestContext):
     def __init__(self, service_catalog=None, all_tenants=False, abandon=None,
                  tsigkey_id=None, original_tenant=None,
                  edit_managed_records=False, hide_counts=False,
-                 client_addr=None, **kwargs):
+                 client_addr=None, user_auth_plugin=None, **kwargs):
 
         super(DesignateContext, self).__init__(**kwargs)
 
+        self.user_auth_plugin = user_auth_plugin
         self.service_catalog = service_catalog
         self.tsigkey_id = tsigkey_id
 
@@ -193,6 +196,49 @@ class DesignateContext(context.RequestContext):
     def client_addr(self, value):
         self._client_addr = value
 
+    def get_auth_plugin(self):
+        if self.user_auth_plugin:
+            return self.user_auth_plugin
+        else:
+            return _ContextAuthPlugin(self.auth_token, self.service_catalog)
+
+
+class _ContextAuthPlugin(plugin.BaseAuthPlugin):
+    """A keystoneauth auth plugin that uses the values from the Context.
+    Ideally we would use the plugin provided by auth_token middleware however
+    this plugin isn't serialized yet so we construct one from the serialized
+    auth data.
+    """
+    def __init__(self, auth_token, sc):
+        super(_ContextAuthPlugin, self).__init__()
+
+        self.auth_token = auth_token
+        self.service_catalog = ksa_service_catalog.ServiceCatalogV2(sc)
+
+    def get_token(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return self.auth_token
+
+    def get_endpoint(self, session, **kwargs):
+        endpoint_data = self.get_endpoint_data(session, **kwargs)
+        if not endpoint_data:
+            return None
+        return endpoint_data.url
+
+    def get_endpoint_data(self, session,
+                          endpoint_override=None,
+                          discover_versions=True,
+                          **kwargs):
+        urlkw = {}
+        for k in ('service_type', 'service_name', 'service_id', 'endpoint_id',
+                  'region_name', 'interface'):
+            if k in kwargs:
+                urlkw[k] = kwargs[k]
+
+        endpoint = endpoint_override or self.service_catalog.url_for(**urlkw)
+        return super(_ContextAuthPlugin, self).get_endpoint_data(
+            session, endpoint_override=endpoint,
+            discover_versions=discover_versions, **kwargs)
+
 
 def get_current():
     return context.get_current()
diff --git a/designate/exceptions.py b/designate/exceptions.py
index 7462c1416..245ca3dd6 100644
--- a/designate/exceptions.py
+++ b/designate/exceptions.py
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ class CommunicationFailure(Base):
     error_type = 'communication_failure'
 
 
+class KeystoneCommunicationFailure(CommunicationFailure):
+    """
+    Raised in case one of the alleged Keystone endpoints fails.
+    """
+    error_type = 'keystone_communication_failure'
+
+
 class NeutronCommunicationFailure(CommunicationFailure):
     """
     Raised in case one of the alleged Neutron endpoints fails.
@@ -138,6 +145,10 @@ class EmptyRequestBody(BadRequest):
     expected = True
 
 
+class InvalidProject(BadRequest):
+    error_type = 'invalid_project'
+
+
 class InvalidUUID(BadRequest):
     error_type = 'invalid_uuid'
 
diff --git a/designate/opts.py b/designate/opts.py
index aef85c3c4..14b8eaf15 100644
--- a/designate/opts.py
+++ b/designate/opts.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 from oslo_db import options
 
 from designate import central
+from designate.common import keystone
 import designate
 import designate.network_api
 from designate.network_api import neutron
@@ -57,3 +58,4 @@ def list_opts():
     yield utils.proxy_group, utils.proxy_opts
     yield None, service.wsgi_socket_opts
     yield stt.heartbeat_group, stt.heartbeat_opts
+    yield keystone.keystone_group, keystone.list_opts()
diff --git a/devstack/plugin.sh b/devstack/plugin.sh
index 9fc0eae00..85ea2396a 100755
--- a/devstack/plugin.sh
+++ b/devstack/plugin.sh
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ function configure_designate {
     if is_service_enabled tls-proxy; then
         # Set the service port for a proxy to take the original
         iniset $DESIGNATE_CONF service:api listen ${DESIGNATE_SERVICE_HOST}:${DESIGNATE_SERVICE_PORT_INT}
+        iniset $DESIGNATE_CONF keystone cafile $SSL_BUNDLE_FILE
     else
         iniset $DESIGNATE_CONF service:api listen ${DESIGNATE_SERVICE_HOST}:${DESIGNATE_SERVICE_PORT}
     fi
@@ -127,6 +128,8 @@ function configure_designate {
     if is_service_enabled keystone; then
         iniset $DESIGNATE_CONF service:api auth_strategy keystone
         configure_auth_token_middleware $DESIGNATE_CONF designate $DESIGNATE_AUTH_CACHE_DIR
+        iniset $DESIGNATE_CONF keystone region_name $REGION_NAME
+        iniset $DESIGNATE_CONF service:api quotas_verify_project_id True
     fi
 
     # Logging Configuration
@@ -161,6 +164,7 @@ function configure_designate_tempest() {
         iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG dns_feature_enabled api_admin $DESIGNATE_ENABLE_API_ADMIN
         iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG dns_feature_enabled api_v2_root_recordsets True
         iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG dns_feature_enabled api_v2_quotas True
+        iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG dns_feature_enabled api_v2_quotas_verify_project True
         iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG dns_feature_enabled bug_1573141_fixed True
 
         # Tell tempest where are nameservers are.
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/quotas-validate-project-36a2a88b66bc6d63.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/quotas-validate-project-36a2a88b66bc6d63.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6b65f7fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/quotas-validate-project-36a2a88b66bc6d63.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    Designate can verify validity of the project id when setting quotas for it.
+    This feature is enabled by setting a new configuration option
+    ``[service:api]quotas_verify_project_id`` to ``True`` (default is ``False``
+    for backward compatibility).