diff --git a/app/jobs/reports/drop_off_report.rb b/app/jobs/reports/drop_off_report.rb
index 5e93e1140ad..66f18622a37 100644
--- a/app/jobs/reports/drop_off_report.rb
+++ b/app/jobs/reports/drop_off_report.rb
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ def perform(report_date)
       self.report_date = report_date
 
       subject = "Drop Off Report - #{report_date.to_date}"
-      JSON.parse(configs).each do |config|
+      configs.each do |config|
         reports = [report_maker(config['issuers']).as_emailable_reports]
         config['emails'].each do |email|
           ReportMailer.tables_report(
diff --git a/lib/identity_config.rb b/lib/identity_config.rb
index 98314846d7b..b0fbee4ee80 100644
--- a/lib/identity_config.rb
+++ b/lib/identity_config.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ def self.store
     Identity::Hostdata.config
   end
 
+  # identity-hostdata transforms these configs to the described type
   # rubocop:disable Metrics/BlockLength
   BUILDER = proc do |config|
     #  ______________________________________
diff --git a/spec/jobs/reports/drop_off_report_spec.rb b/spec/jobs/reports/drop_off_report_spec.rb
index 9d9b03c8cab..c961b8fcebc 100644
--- a/spec/jobs/reports/drop_off_report_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/jobs/reports/drop_off_report_spec.rb
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
 
 RSpec.describe Reports::DropOffReport do
   let(:report_date) { Date.new(2023, 12, 12).in_time_zone('UTC') }
+  # This is in S3 as a string that gets parsed via identity_config.rb
   let(:report_config) do
-    '[{"emails":["ursula@example.com"],
-       "issuers":"urn:gov:gsa:openidconnect.profiles:sp:sso:agency_name:app_name"}]'
+    JSON.parse '[{"emails":["ursula@example.com"],
+       "issuers":["urn:gov:gsa:openidconnect.profiles:sp:sso:agency_name:app_name"]}]'
   end
 
   before do