diff --git a/openstack_requirements/cmds/validate_projects.py b/openstack_requirements/cmds/validate_projects.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a880edc7cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openstack_requirements/cmds/validate_projects.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+# not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+# a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+# WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+# License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+"""Apply validation rules to the projects.txt file
+
+"""
+
+import argparse
+
+from openstack_requirements import project_config
+
+
+_BLACKLIST = set([
+    # NOTE(dhellmann): It's not clear why these don't get updates,
+    # except that trying to do so may break the test jobs using them
+    # because of the nature of the projects.
+    'openstack-dev/hacking',
+    'openstack-dev/pbr',
+    # We can't enforce the check rules against this repo.
+    'openstack/requirements',
+])
+
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument(
+        'projects_list',
+        default='projects.txt',
+        help='path to the projects.txt file',
+    )
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    zuul_layout = project_config.get_zuul_layout_data()
+
+    error_count = 0
+
+    print('\nChecking %s' % args.projects_list)
+    with open(args.projects_list, 'r') as f:
+        for repo in f:
+            repo = repo.strip()
+            if repo.startswith('#'):
+                continue
+            if repo in _BLACKLIST:
+                continue
+            pe = project_config.require_check_requirements_for_repo(
+                zuul_layout, repo)
+            for e in pe:
+                print(e)
+                error_count += 1
+
+    return 1 if error_count else 0
diff --git a/openstack_requirements/project_config.py b/openstack_requirements/project_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8c2fac528d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openstack_requirements/project_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+
+"""Work with the project-config repository.
+"""
+
+import requests
+import yaml
+
+
+ZUUL_LAYOUT_URL = 'http://git.openstack.org/cgit/openstack-infra/project-config/plain/zuul/layout.yaml'  # noqa
+ZUUL_LAYOUT_FILENAME = 'openstack-infra/project-config/zuul/layout.yaml'
+
+# We use this key to modify the data structure read from the zuul
+# layout file. We don't control what are valid keys there, so make it
+# easy to change the key we use, just in case.
+_VALIDATE_KEY = 'validate-projects-by-name'
+
+
+def get_zuul_layout_data(url=ZUUL_LAYOUT_URL):
+    """Return the parsed data structure for the zuul/layout.yaml file.
+
+    :param url: Optional URL to the location of the file. Defaults to
+      the most current version in the public git repository.
+
+    """
+    r = requests.get(url)
+    raw = yaml.safe_load(r.text)
+    # Add a mapping from repo name to repo settings, since that is how
+    # we access this most often.
+    raw[_VALIDATE_KEY] = {
+        p['name']: p
+        for p in raw['projects']
+    }
+    return raw
+
+
+def require_check_requirements_for_repo(zuul_layout, repo):
+    """Check the repository for the jobs related to requirements.
+
+    Returns a list of error messages.
+
+    """
+    errors = []
+
+    if repo not in zuul_layout[_VALIDATE_KEY]:
+        errors.append(
+            ('did not find %s in %s' % (repo, ZUUL_LAYOUT_FILENAME),
+             True)
+        )
+    else:
+        p = zuul_layout[_VALIDATE_KEY][repo]
+        templates = [
+            t['name']
+            for t in p.get('template', [])
+        ]
+        # NOTE(dhellmann): We don't mess around looking for individual
+        # jobs, because we want projects to use the templates.
+        if 'check-requirements' not in templates:
+            errors.append(
+                '%s no check-requirements job specified for %s'
+                % (ZUUL_LAYOUT_FILENAME, repo)
+            )
+    return errors
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 49f6a121f0..9533c88c31 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -34,3 +34,4 @@ console_scripts =
     generate-constraints = openstack_requirements.cmds.generate:main
     update-requirements = openstack_requirements.cmds.update:main
     validate-constraints = openstack_requirements.cmds.validate:main
+    validate-projects = openstack_requirements.cmds.validate_projects:main
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index e87c04e837..c3fae1f7f6 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ setuptools>=16.0 # PSF/ZPL
 # this is required for the docs build jobs
 sphinx!=1.2.0,!=1.3b1,<1.3,>=1.1.2 # BSD
 oslosphinx!=3.4.0,>=2.5.0 # Apache-2.0
+PyYAML>=3.1.0
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index c2afb392a6..231642b737 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ commands = generate-constraints {posargs}
 [testenv:validate]
 commands = validate-constraints {toxinidir}/global-requirements.txt {toxinidir}/upper-constraints.txt {toxinidir}/blacklist.txt
 
+[testenv:validate-projects]
+commands = validate-projects {toxinidir}/projects.txt
+
 [testenv:pep8]
 commands = flake8