diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 71d67414a9c..c6f5f8f34b1 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -91,17 +91,17 @@ commands:
       - run:
           name: Installs basic dependencies
           command: |
-            python -m pip install --progress-bar off pip setuptools==62.3.4
-            python -m pip install --progress-bar off coverage
-            python -m pip install --progress-bar off codecov
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python -m pip install --progress-bar off pip setuptools==62.3.4 && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python -m pip install --progress-bar off coverage && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python -m pip install --progress-bar off codecov && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
             mkdir -p ~/ParlAI/test-results
-            pip install -v -r requirements.txt
-            python setup.py develop
-            python -c "import nltk; nltk.download('punkt')"
-            python -c "import nltk; nltk.download('stopwords')"
-            python -c "import nltk; nltk.download('omw-1.4')"
-            python -m pip install --progress-bar off spacy
-            python -m spacy download en_core_web_sm
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do pip install -v -r requirements.txt && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python setup.py develop && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python -c "import nltk; nltk.download('punkt')" && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python -c "import nltk; nltk.download('stopwords')" && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python -c "import nltk; nltk.download('omw-1.4')" && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python -m pip install --progress-bar off spacy && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
+            for i in $(seq 1 3); do python -m spacy download en_core_web_sm && s=0 && break || s=$? && sleep 10; done; (exit $s)
 
   installtorchgpu:
     description: Install torch GPU and dependencies
diff --git a/tests/nightly/gpu/test_bert.py b/tests/nightly/gpu/test_bert.py
index b506644214d..04b8cf1fca5 100644
--- a/tests/nightly/gpu/test_bert.py
+++ b/tests/nightly/gpu/test_bert.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 import unittest
 import parlai.utils.testing as testing_utils
+import torch
 
 
 @testing_utils.skipUnlessGPU
@@ -17,6 +18,11 @@ class TestBertModel(unittest.TestCase):
     samples on convai2
     """
 
+    def setUp(self) -> None:
+        super().setUp()
+        # set seeds for reproducibility
+        torch.manual_seed(seed=42)
+
     def test_biencoder(self):
         valid, test = testing_utils.train_model(
             dict(