diff --git a/ci-operator/config/openshift/openshift-mcp-server/openshift-openshift-mcp-server-main.yaml b/ci-operator/config/openshift/openshift-mcp-server/openshift-openshift-mcp-server-main.yaml
index 04da1821a141e..47070dd307497 100644
--- a/ci-operator/config/openshift/openshift-mcp-server/openshift-openshift-mcp-server-main.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/config/openshift/openshift-mcp-server/openshift-openshift-mcp-server-main.yaml
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ tests:
       GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION: global
       GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT: ocp-mcp-server-team
       TASK_PASS_RATE: "0.8"
+      VERIFY_TIMEOUT: 300s
     test:
     - chain: openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-vertex
     workflow: ipi-aws
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ tests:
       GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION: us-east5
       GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT: ocp-mcp-server-team
       TASK_PASS_RATE: "0.8"
+      VERIFY_TIMEOUT: 300s
     test:
     - chain: openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-vertex
     workflow: ipi-aws
diff --git a/ci-operator/config/openshift/openshift-mcp-server/openshift-openshift-mcp-server-release-0.5.yaml b/ci-operator/config/openshift/openshift-mcp-server/openshift-openshift-mcp-server-release-0.5.yaml
index 351984bd55e95..0e939d2d7c2c5 100644
--- a/ci-operator/config/openshift/openshift-mcp-server/openshift-openshift-mcp-server-release-0.5.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/config/openshift/openshift-mcp-server/openshift-openshift-mcp-server-release-0.5.yaml
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ tests:
       GEMINI_USE_VERTEX: "1"
       GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION: global
       GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT: ocp-mcp-server-team
+      VERIFY_TIMEOUT: 300s
     test:
     - chain: openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-vertex
     workflow: ipi-aws
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ tests:
       GEMINI_USE_VERTEX: ""
       GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION: us-east5
       GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT: ocp-mcp-server-team
+      VERIFY_TIMEOUT: 300s
     test:
     - chain: openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-vertex
     workflow: ipi-aws
@@ -67,6 +69,7 @@ tests:
       EVAL_CONFIG: evals/core-eval-testing/builtin-openai/eval-core.yaml
       EVAL_LABEL_SELECTOR: suite=core
       TASK_PASS_RATE: "0.8"
+      VERIFY_TIMEOUT: 300s
     test:
     - chain: openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-model-api
     workflow: ipi-aws
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/openshift/mcp-server/mcpchecker-eval/openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/openshift/mcp-server/mcpchecker-eval/openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-ref.yaml
index b7c5a54c4df93..c24b46810add0 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/openshift/mcp-server/mcpchecker-eval/openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-ref.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/openshift/mcp-server/mcpchecker-eval/openshift-mcp-server-mcpchecker-eval-ref.yaml
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ ref:
   - name: ANTHROPIC_USE_VERTEX
     default: ""
     documentation: Set to "1" to route Anthropic Claude calls through Vertex AI
+  - name: VERIFY_TIMEOUT
+    default: ""
+    documentation: Optional override for task setup/verify script wait timeouts
+      (e.g. "300s") on slower environments; empty keeps each script's own default.
   resources:
     requests:
       cpu: "2"