diff --git a/tripleoclient/tests/test_utils.py b/tripleoclient/tests/test_utils.py
index 834646189..903fa13ca 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -269,6 +269,55 @@ class TestRunAnsiblePlaybook(TestCase):
                                           '/tmp/existing.yaml'],
                                          env=env, retcode_only=False)
 
+    @mock.patch('tempfile.mkstemp', return_value=('foo', '/tmp/fooBar.cfg'))
+    @mock.patch('os.path.exists', return_value=True)
+    @mock.patch('tripleoclient.utils.run_command_and_log')
+    def test_run_success_gathering_policy(self, mock_run, mock_exists,
+                                          mok_mkstemp):
+        mock_process = mock.Mock()
+        mock_process.returncode = 0
+        mock_run.return_value = mock_process
+
+        retcode, output = utils.run_ansible_playbook(
+            self.mock_log,
+            '/tmp',
+            'existing.yaml',
+            'localhost,',
+            gathering_policy='explicit')
+        self.assertEqual(retcode, 0)
+        mock_exists.assert_called_once_with('/tmp/existing.yaml')
+        env = os.environ.copy()
+        env['ANSIBLE_LIBRARY'] = \
+            ('/root/.ansible/plugins/modules:'
+             '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules:'
+             '/usr/share/openstack-tripleo-validations/library')
+        env['ANSIBLE_LOOKUP_PLUGINS'] = \
+            ('root/.ansible/plugins/lookup:'
+             '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/lookup:'
+             '/usr/share/openstack-tripleo-validations/lookup_plugins')
+        env['ANSIBLE_CALLBACK_PLUGINS'] = \
+            ('~/.ansible/plugins/callback:'
+             '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/callback:'
+             '/usr/share/openstack-tripleo-validations/callback_plugins')
+        env['ANSIBLE_ROLES_PATH'] = \
+            ('/root/.ansible/roles:'
+             '/usr/share/ansible/roles:'
+             '/etc/ansible/roles:'
+             '/usr/share/openstack-tripleo-validations/roles')
+        env['ANSIBLE_CONFIG'] = '/tmp/fooBar.cfg'
+        env['ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING'] = 'False'
+        env['ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH'] = '/tmp/ansible.log'
+        env['TRIPLEO_PLAN_NAME'] = 'overcloud'
+        env['ANSIBLE_GATHERING'] = 'explicit'
+
+        mock_run.assert_called_once_with(self.mock_log,
+                                         [self.ansible_playbook_cmd,
+                                          '-u', 'root',
+                                          '-i', 'localhost,', '-v',
+                                          '-c', 'smart',
+                                          '/tmp/existing.yaml'],
+                                         env=env, retcode_only=False)
+
     @mock.patch('tempfile.mkstemp', return_value=('foo', '/tmp/fooBar.cfg'))
     @mock.patch('os.path.exists', return_value=True)
     @mock.patch('tripleoclient.utils.run_command_and_log')
diff --git a/tripleoclient/tests/v1/tripleo/test_tripleo_validator.py b/tripleoclient/tests/v1/tripleo/test_tripleo_validator.py
index 3f58ffc2c..33a3a7b17 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/tests/v1/tripleo/test_tripleo_validator.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/tests/v1/tripleo/test_tripleo_validator.py
@@ -111,7 +111,8 @@ class TestValidatorRun(utils.TestCommand):
             retries=False,
             output_callback='validation_output',
             extra_vars={},
-            python_interpreter='/usr/bin/python{}'.format(sys.version_info[0])
+            python_interpreter='/usr/bin/python{}'.format(sys.version_info[0]),
+            gathering_policy='explicit'
         )
 
         assert mock_sysexit.called
diff --git a/tripleoclient/utils.py b/tripleoclient/utils.py
index d9007f9f2..6a7952171 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/utils.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/utils.py
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ def run_ansible_playbook(logger,
                          skip_tags=None,
                          verbosity=1,
                          extra_vars=None,
-                         plan='overcloud'):
+                         plan='overcloud',
+                         gathering_policy=None):
     """Simple wrapper for ansible-playbook
 
     :param logger: logger instance
@@ -147,6 +148,12 @@ def run_ansible_playbook(logger,
     :param extra_vars: set additional variables as a Dict
     or the absolute path of a JSON or YAML file type
     :type extra_vars: Either a Dict or the absolute path of JSON or YAML
+
+    :param gathering_policy: This setting controls the default policy of
+    fact gathering ('smart', 'implicit', 'explicit'). Defaults to None.
+    When not specified, the policy will be the default Ansible one, ie.
+    'implicit'.
+    :type gathering_facts: String
     """
     env = os.environ.copy()
 
@@ -177,6 +184,9 @@ def run_ansible_playbook(logger,
 
     env['ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING'] = 'False'
 
+    if gathering_policy in ['smart', 'explicit', 'implicit']:
+        env['ANSIBLE_GATHERING'] = gathering_policy
+
     if extra_vars is None:
         extra_vars = {}
 
diff --git a/tripleoclient/v1/tripleo_validator.py b/tripleoclient/v1/tripleo_validator.py
index 073128083..763274fe7 100644
--- a/tripleoclient/v1/tripleo_validator.py
+++ b/tripleoclient/v1/tripleo_validator.py
@@ -356,7 +356,8 @@ class TripleOValidatorRun(command.Command):
                     retries=False,
                     output_callback='validation_output',
                     extra_vars=extra_vars_input,
-                    python_interpreter=python_interpreter)
+                    python_interpreter=python_interpreter,
+                    gathering_policy='explicit')
                 print('[SUCCESS] - {}\n{}'.format(playbook,
                                                   oooutils.indent(output)))
             except Exception as e: