diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/alerting/server/alerts_client/alerts_client.ts b/x-pack/plugins/alerting/server/alerts_client/alerts_client.ts
index 03500c8b94575..ae328016dd909 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/alerting/server/alerts_client/alerts_client.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/alerting/server/alerts_client/alerts_client.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ import {
   getLifecycleAlertsQueries,
   getContinualAlertsQuery,
 } from './lib';
+import { resolveAlertConflicts } from './lib/alert_conflict_resolver';
 
 // Term queries can take up to 10,000 terms
 const CHUNK_SIZE = 10000;
@@ -411,6 +412,12 @@ export class AlertsClient<
               alertsToIndex.length
             } alerts - ${JSON.stringify(errorsInResponse)}`
           );
+
+          //resolveAlertConflicts({
+          //  bulkRequest: bulkBody,
+          //  bulkResponse: response,
+          //  esClient,
+          //});
         }
       } catch (err) {
         this.options.logger.error(
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/alerting/server/alerts_client/lib/alert_conflict_resolver.ts b/x-pack/plugins/alerting/server/alerts_client/lib/alert_conflict_resolver.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ed692bfafd035
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/alerting/server/alerts_client/lib/alert_conflict_resolver.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
+ * 2.0; you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License
+ * 2.0.
+ */
+
+import { zip } from 'lodash';
+
+import {
+  BulkRequest,
+  BulkResponse,
+  BulkOperationContainer,
+} from '@elastic/elasticsearch/lib/api/types';
+
+import { ElasticsearchClient } from '@kbn/core/server';
+
+interface ResolveAlertConflictsParams {
+  esClient: ElasticsearchClient;
+  bulkRequest: BulkRequest;
+  bulkResponse: BulkResponse;
+}
+
+interface ResolveAlertConfictsResult {
+  bulkRequest: BulkRequest;
+}
+
+interface NormalizedBulkRequest {
+  op: BulkOperationContainer;
+  doc: unknown;
+}
+
+export async function resolveAlertConflicts(
+  params: ResolveAlertConflictsParams
+): Promise<ResolveAlertConfictsResult> {
+  const conflictRequest = getConflictRequest(params);
+  await updateOCC(params.esClient, conflictRequest);
+
+  const bulkRequest = {
+    operations: conflictRequest.map((req) => [req.op, req.doc]).flat(),
+  }
+  return { bulkRequest };
+}
+
+
+// change this to do the mget separately from applying the OCC,
+// so we can also use the mget to get the current ad-hoc fields of the alert
+
+
+
+/** Update the OCC info in the request via mget. */
+async function updateOCC(esClient: ElasticsearchClient, conflictRequests: NormalizedBulkRequest[]) {
+  const docs: Array<{ _id: string; _index: string }> = [];
+
+  conflictRequests.forEach((req) => {
+    const [id, index] = [req.op.index?._id, req.op.index?._index];
+    if (!id || !index) return;
+
+    docs.push({ _id: id, _index: index });
+  });
+
+  const mgetRes = await esClient.mget<unknown>({ docs, _source: false });
+
+  if (mgetRes.docs.length !== docs.length) {
+    throw new Error('Unexpected number of mget response docs');
+  }
+
+  for (const [req, doc] of zip(conflictRequests, mgetRes.docs)) {
+    if (!req?.op.index || !doc) continue;
+
+    // @ts-expect-error @elastic/elasticsearch _seq_no is not in the type!
+    const seqNo: number | undefined = doc._seq_no;
+    // @ts-expect-error @elastic/elasticsearch _primary_term is not in the type!
+    const primaryTerm: number | undefined = doc._primary_term;
+
+    if (seqNo === undefined) throw new Error('Unexpected undefined seqNo');
+    if (primaryTerm === undefined) throw new Error('Unexpected undefined primaryTerm');
+
+    req.op.index.if_seq_no = seqNo;
+    req.op.index.if_seq_no = primaryTerm;
+  }
+}
+
+/** Return the bulk request, filtered to those requests that had conflicts. */
+function getConflictRequest(params: ResolveAlertConflictsParams): NormalizedBulkRequest[] {
+  const { bulkRequest, bulkResponse } = params;
+
+  const request = normalizeRequest(bulkRequest);
+
+  if (request.length !== bulkResponse.items.length) {
+    throw new Error('Unexpected number of bulk response items');
+  }
+
+  if (request.length === 0) return [];
+
+  const conflictRequest = zip(request, bulkResponse.items)
+    .filter(([req, resp]) => req && resp?.index?.status === 409)
+    .map(([req, _]) => req!);
+
+  return conflictRequest;
+}
+
+/** Convert a bulk request (op | doc)[] to an array of { op, doc }[] for index op */
+function normalizeRequest(bulkRequest: BulkRequest) {
+  if (!bulkRequest.operations) return [];
+  const result: NormalizedBulkRequest[] = [];
+
+  let index = 0;
+  while (index < bulkRequest.operations.length) {
+    const op = bulkRequest.operations[index] as BulkOperationContainer;
+
+    if (op.create || op.index || op.update) {
+      index++;
+      if (op.index) {
+        const doc = bulkRequest.operations[index];
+        result.push({ op, doc });
+      }
+    } else if (op.delete) {
+      // no doc for delete op
+    } else {
+      throw new Error(`Unsupported bulk operation: ${JSON.stringify(op)}`);
+    }
+
+    index++;
+  }
+
+  return result;
+}