diff --git a/extensions/pvaPublish/src/node/publish.spec.ts b/extensions/pvaPublish/src/node/publish.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..34ab980b10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/pvaPublish/src/node/publish.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+import { publish } from './publish';
+
+const mockFetch = jest.fn();
+jest.mock('node-fetch', () => {
+  return async (...args) => await mockFetch(args);
+});
+
+const mockPublishConfig: any = {
+  profileName: 'Publish to Power Virtual Agents',
+  baseUrl: 'https://bots.int.customercareintelligence.net/',
+  botId: 'myBotId',
+  envId: 'myEnvId',
+  tenantId: 'myTenantId',
+  deleteMissingDependencies: false,
+};
+const mockBotProject: any = {
+  exportToZip: jest.fn((options, cb) => {
+    const archive = {
+      on: jest.fn((eventName, handler) => {
+        if (eventName === 'end') {
+          handler();
+        }
+      }),
+      pipe: jest.fn(),
+      unpipe: jest.fn(),
+    };
+    cb(archive);
+  }),
+};
+const mockGetAccessToken = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue('accessToken');
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  mockFetch.mockClear();
+});
+
+describe('publish()', () => {
+  it('should successfully start a publish job', async () => {
+    const mockDiagnostics = [
+      {
+        message: 'This is a log message from PVA',
+      },
+      {
+        message: 'This is a second log message from PVA',
+      },
+    ];
+    mockFetch.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      status: 202,
+      json: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+        comment: 'testing',
+        importedContentEtag: 'W/"version"',
+        operationId: 'operationId',
+        diagnostics: mockDiagnostics,
+        lastUpdateTimeUtc: Date.now(),
+        state: 'Validating',
+      }),
+    });
+    const result = await publish(
+      mockPublishConfig,
+      mockBotProject,
+      { comment: 'testing' },
+      undefined,
+      mockGetAccessToken
+    );
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(202);
+    const innerResult = result.result;
+    expect(innerResult.message).toBe('Validating bot assets...');
+    expect(innerResult.comment).toBe('testing');
+    expect(innerResult.eTag).toBe('W/"version"');
+    expect(innerResult.log).toEqual(
+      mockDiagnostics.map((diag) => `---\n${JSON.stringify(diag, null, 2)}\n---\n`).join('\n')
+    );
+    expect(innerResult.id).toBe('operationId');
+    expect(innerResult.action).toEqual(null);
+  });
+
+  it('should surface the status message from PVA if a 202 is not returned', async () => {
+    mockFetch.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      status: 502,
+      text: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue('Bad Gateway: The service might be down temporarily.'),
+    });
+    const result = await publish(
+      mockPublishConfig,
+      mockBotProject,
+      { comment: 'testing' },
+      undefined,
+      mockGetAccessToken
+    );
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(502);
+    expect(result.result.message).toBe('Bad Gateway: The service might be down temporarily.');
+  });
+
+  it('should surface a 500 and th error message if the publish code throws', async () => {
+    mockFetch.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      status: 202,
+      json: jest.fn().mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('Invalid JSON at position 0: "<"')),
+    });
+    const result = await publish(
+      mockPublishConfig,
+      mockBotProject,
+      { comment: 'testing' },
+      undefined,
+      mockGetAccessToken
+    );
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(500);
+    expect(result.result.message).toBe('Invalid JSON at position 0: "<"');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/extensions/pvaPublish/src/node/publish.ts b/extensions/pvaPublish/src/node/publish.ts
index 302992777a..cb2c2ed6cd 100644
--- a/extensions/pvaPublish/src/node/publish.ts
+++ b/extensions/pvaPublish/src/node/publish.ts
@@ -92,23 +92,37 @@ export const publish = async (
         'If-Match': project.eTag,
       },
     });
-    const job: PVAPublishJob = await res.json();
-    logger.log('Publish job started: %O', job);
+    if (res.status === 202) {
+      const job: PVAPublishJob = await res.json();
+      logger.log('Publish job started: %O', job);
 
-    // transform the PVA job to a publish response
-    const result = xformJobToResult(job);
+      // transform the PVA job to a publish response
+      const result = xformJobToResult(job);
 
-    // add to publish history
-    const botProjectId = project.id;
-    ensurePublishProfileHistory(botProjectId, profileName);
-    publishHistory[botProjectId][profileName].unshift(result);
+      // add to publish history
+      const botProjectId = project.id;
+      ensurePublishProfileHistory(botProjectId, profileName);
+      publishHistory[botProjectId][profileName].unshift(result);
 
-    logger.log('Publish call successful.');
+      logger.log('Publish call successful.');
 
-    return {
-      status: result.status,
-      result,
-    };
+      return {
+        status: result.status,
+        result,
+      };
+    } else {
+      // otherwise we should surface the error in the UI
+      let errorText = res.statusText;
+      if (res && res.text) {
+        errorText = await res.text();
+      }
+      return {
+        status: res.status,
+        result: {
+          message: errorText,
+        },
+      };
+    }
   } catch (e) {
     return {
       status: 500,