diff --git a/internal/grpc/retry/retry.go b/internal/grpc/retry/retry.go
index 5ab9522f2..c1922397b 100644
--- a/internal/grpc/retry/retry.go
+++ b/internal/grpc/retry/retry.go
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ func ServiceIsUnavailable(err error) bool {
 		return true
 	}
 
+	// retry if GCP proxy LB isn't fully available yet
+	if strings.HasPrefix(statusErr.Message(), `connection error: desc = "transport: authentication handshake failed: read tcp`) {
+		return true
+	}
+
 	// ideally we would check the error type directly, but grpc only provides a string
 	return !strings.HasPrefix(statusErr.Message(), `connection error: desc = "transport: authentication handshake failed`)
 }