diff --git a/Makefile.core.mk b/Makefile.core.mk
index a269ee4195..ce0704793d 100644
--- a/Makefile.core.mk
+++ b/Makefile.core.mk
@@ -215,8 +215,8 @@ test.integration: envtest ## Run integration tests located in the tests/integrat
 	go run github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo --tags=integration $(GINKGO_FLAGS) ./tests/integration/...
 
 .PHONY: test.scorecard
-test.scorecard: operator-sdk ## Run the operator scorecard test.
-	OPERATOR_SDK=$(OPERATOR_SDK) ${SOURCE_DIR}/tests/scorecard-test.sh
+test.scorecard: operator-sdk ## Run the operator scorecard test. Use OCP=true to run against an existing OCP cluster instead of Kind.
+	OCP=$${OCP:-false} OPERATOR_SDK=$(OPERATOR_SDK) SCORECARD_NAMESPACE="$${SCORECARD_NAMESPACE:-scorecard-test}" ${SOURCE_DIR}/tests/scorecard-test.sh
 
 .PHONY: test.e2e.ocp
 test.e2e.ocp: istioctl ## Run the end-to-end tests against an existing OCP cluster. While running on OCP in downstream you need to set ISTIOCTL_DOWNLOAD_URL to the URL where the istioctl productized binary.
diff --git a/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh b/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh
index abf4c75c2c..2e06a772c3 100755
--- a/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh
@@ -124,6 +124,17 @@ initialize_variables() {
   IP_FAMILY=${IP_FAMILY:-ipv4}
   ISTIO_MANIFEST="chart/samples/istio-sample.yaml"
   CI=${CI:-"false"}
+  USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY=${USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY:-"false"}
+
+  # Debug logging and fallback for GINKGO_FLAGS
+  echo "CI environment: ${CI}"
+  echo "GINKGO_FLAGS received: '${GINKGO_FLAGS:-}'"
+
+  # Fallback: Generate GINKGO_FLAGS if empty and CI=true
+  if [ -z "${GINKGO_FLAGS:-}" ] && [ "${CI}" == "true" ]; then
+    GINKGO_FLAGS="--no-color"
+    echo "Generated GINKGO_FLAGS fallback: '${GINKGO_FLAGS}'"
+  fi
 
   # export to be sure that the variables are available in the subshell
   export IMAGE_BASE="${IMAGE_BASE:-sail-operator}"
@@ -133,22 +144,32 @@ initialize_variables() {
   # Handle OCP registry scenarios
   # Note: Makefile.core.mk sets HUB=quay.io/sail-dev and TAG=1.29-latest by default
   if [ "${OCP}" == "true" ]; then
+    # Debug output for troubleshooting
+    echo "DEBUG: CI='${CI}', HUB='${HUB}'"
+
     if [ "${CI}" == "true" ] && [ "${HUB}" == "quay.io/sail-dev" ]; then
       # Scenario 2: CI mode with default HUB -> use external registry with proper CI tag
       echo "CI mode detected for OCP, using external registry ${HUB}"
-
+      export USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY="false"
       # Use PR_NUMBER if available, otherwise generate timestamp tag
+      # Use TARGET_ARCH to differentiate tags for different architectures in CI, avoid race conditions in CI when multiple runs are pushing to the same default tag
       if [ -n "${PR_NUMBER:-}" ]; then
-        export TAG="pr-${PR_NUMBER}"
+        TAG="pr-${PR_NUMBER}-${TARGET_ARCH}"
+        export TAG
         echo "Using PR-based tag: ${TAG}"
       else
-        TAG="ci-test-$(date +%s)"
+        TAG="ci-test-$(date +%s)-${TARGET_ARCH}"
         export TAG
         echo "Using timestamp-based tag: ${TAG}"
       fi
+    elif [ "${CI}" == "true" ]; then
+      # Additional CI mode check - handle CI mode regardless of HUB value
+      echo "CI mode detected for OCP with custom HUB (${HUB}), using external registry"
+      export USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY="false"
     elif [ "${HUB}" != "quay.io/sail-dev" ]; then
       # Scenario 3: Custom registry provided by user
       echo "Using custom registry: ${HUB}"
+      export USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY="false"
     else
       # Scenario 1: Local development -> use internal OCP registry
       echo "Local development mode, will use OCP internal registry"
@@ -303,7 +324,7 @@ if [ "${SKIP_BUILD}" == "false" ]; then
   fi
 fi
 
-export SKIP_DEPLOY IP_FAMILY ISTIO_MANIFEST NAMESPACE CONTROL_PLANE_NS DEPLOYMENT_NAME MULTICLUSTER ARTIFACTS ISTIO_NAME COMMAND KUBECONFIG ISTIOCTL_PATH
+export SKIP_DEPLOY IP_FAMILY ISTIO_MANIFEST NAMESPACE CONTROL_PLANE_NS DEPLOYMENT_NAME MULTICLUSTER ARTIFACTS ISTIO_NAME COMMAND KUBECONFIG ISTIOCTL_PATH GINKGO_FLAGS
 
 if [ "${OLM}" != "true" ] && [ "${SKIP_DEPLOY}" != "true" ]; then
   # shellcheck disable=SC2153
diff --git a/tests/e2e/integ-suite-kind.sh b/tests/e2e/integ-suite-kind.sh
index f796ad3bd4..29cd3427c7 100755
--- a/tests/e2e/integ-suite-kind.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/integ-suite-kind.sh
@@ -35,10 +35,10 @@ function check_prerequisites() {
 function run_integration_tests() {
   echo "Running integration tests"
   if [ "${MULTICLUSTER}" == "true" ]; then
-    ARTIFACTS="${ARTIFACTS}" ISTIOCTL="${ISTIOCTL}" "${ROOT}/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh" --kind --multicluster
+    ARTIFACTS="${ARTIFACTS}" ISTIOCTL="${ISTIOCTL}" GINKGO_FLAGS="${GINKGO_FLAGS}" "${ROOT}/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh" --kind --multicluster
   else
     KUBECONFIG="${ARTIFACTS}/config"
-    ARTIFACTS="${ARTIFACTS}" IP_FAMILY="${IP_FAMILY}" "${ROOT}/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh" --kind
+    ARTIFACTS="${ARTIFACTS}" IP_FAMILY="${IP_FAMILY}" GINKGO_FLAGS="${GINKGO_FLAGS}" "${ROOT}/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh" --kind
   fi
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/e2e/integ-suite-ocp.sh b/tests/e2e/integ-suite-ocp.sh
index 83566be1a2..a075dd2692 100755
--- a/tests/e2e/integ-suite-ocp.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/integ-suite-ocp.sh
@@ -27,4 +27,4 @@ if [ -z "${KUBECONFIG}" ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-KUBECONFIG="${KUBECONFIG}" ./tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh --ocp
\ No newline at end of file
+KUBECONFIG="${KUBECONFIG}" GINKGO_FLAGS="${GINKGO_FLAGS}" ./tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh --ocp
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/e2e/setup/build-and-push-operator.sh b/tests/e2e/setup/build-and-push-operator.sh
index fadc990c83..4be9123fa6 100755
--- a/tests/e2e/setup/build-and-push-operator.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/setup/build-and-push-operator.sh
@@ -86,9 +86,12 @@ build_and_push_operator_image() {
 
 # Main logic
 # Only use internal registry for OCP local development (when USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY is set)
+echo "DEBUG: OCP='${OCP}', USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY='${USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY:-false}'"
 if [ "${OCP}" == "true" ] && [ "${USE_INTERNAL_REGISTRY:-false}" == "true" ]; then
   echo "Setting up OCP internal registry for local development..."
   get_internal_registry
+else
+  echo "Skipping internal registry setup - using external registry"
 fi
 
 echo "Registry: ${HUB}"
diff --git a/tests/scorecard-test.sh b/tests/scorecard-test.sh
index 8c11b31595..f4bdc9da4b 100755
--- a/tests/scorecard-test.sh
+++ b/tests/scorecard-test.sh
@@ -19,22 +19,55 @@ set -eux -o pipefail
 SCRIPTPATH="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
 ROOT="$(dirname "${SCRIPTPATH}")"
 
-# shellcheck source=common/scripts/kind_provisioner.sh
-source "${ROOT}/common/scripts/kind_provisioner.sh"
+# OCP environment variable can be set to "true" to run tests against an existing OCP cluster instead of a Kind cluster
+OCP="${OCP:-false}"
 
-# Create a temporary kubeconfig
-KUBECONFIG="$(mktemp)"
-export KUBECONFIG
+if [[ "${OCP}" == "true" ]]; then
+    echo "Running scorecard tests against existing OCP cluster"
 
-# Create the kind cluster
-export KIND_CLUSTER_NAME="${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME:-kind}"
-export DEFAULT_CLUSTER_YAML="${ROOT}/tests/e2e/setup/config/default.yaml"
-export ARTIFACTS="${ARTIFACTS:-$(mktemp -d)}"
-export IP_FAMILY="${IP_FAMILY:-ipv4}"
-setup_kind_cluster "${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}" "" "" "true" "true"
+    # Check if KUBECONFIG is set
+    if [ -z "${KUBECONFIG:-}" ]; then
+        echo "KUBECONFIG is not set. oc will not be able to connect to the cluster. Exiting."
+        exit 1
+    fi
 
-kind export kubeconfig --name="${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}"
+    # Verify we can connect to the cluster
+    if ! oc cluster-info > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        echo "Cannot connect to OpenShift cluster. Check your KUBECONFIG and cluster access."
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    echo "Connected to cluster: $(oc config current-context)"
+
+else
+    echo "Running scorecard tests against Kind cluster"
+
+    # shellcheck source=common/scripts/kind_provisioner.sh
+    source "${ROOT}/common/scripts/kind_provisioner.sh"
+
+    # Create a temporary kubeconfig
+    KUBECONFIG="$(mktemp)"
+    export KUBECONFIG
+
+    # Create the kind cluster
+    export KIND_CLUSTER_NAME="${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME:-kind}"
+    export DEFAULT_CLUSTER_YAML="${ROOT}/tests/e2e/setup/config/default.yaml"
+    export ARTIFACTS="${ARTIFACTS:-$(mktemp -d)}"
+    export IP_FAMILY="${IP_FAMILY:-ipv4}"
+    setup_kind_cluster "${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}" "" "" "true" "true"
+
+    kind export kubeconfig --name="${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}"
+fi
+
+# Determine namespace - use scorecard-test for OCP to avoid conflicts with any existing namespaces, and default for Kind since it's a fresh cluster
+NAMESPACE="${SCORECARD_NAMESPACE:-default}"
+if [[ "${OCP}" == "true" ]]; then
+    NAMESPACE="${SCORECARD_NAMESPACE:-scorecard-test}"
+    # Create namespace if it doesn't exist
+    oc create namespace "${NAMESPACE}" || true
+fi
 
 # Run the test
 OPERATOR_SDK="${OPERATOR_SDK:-operator-sdk}"
-${OPERATOR_SDK} scorecard --kubeconfig="${KUBECONFIG}" --namespace=default bundle
+echo "Running scorecard tests in namespace: ${NAMESPACE}"
+${OPERATOR_SDK} scorecard --kubeconfig="${KUBECONFIG}" --namespace="${NAMESPACE}" bundle