diff --git a/.circleci/README.md b/.circleci/README.md
index ed3c0499d2..f86e7f34d7 100644
--- a/.circleci/README.md
+++ b/.circleci/README.md
@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
+# CircleCI Configuration
+## Environment Variables
+When configuring CircleCI, you will need to set environment varaialbes the database
+configuration as follows:
+```
+FECFILE_DB_HOST=localhost 
+FECFILE_DB_USERNAME=postgres 
+FECFILE_DB_PASSWORD=postgres 
+FECFILE_DB_NAME=postgres 
+```
+NOTE that the FECFILE_DB_HOST is different here than what you need for your docker-compose configuration.
+
 # Using CircleCI local CLI 
 
 ## Install circleci local
@@ -22,6 +34,18 @@ This can save a lot of time when trying to debug an issue in CI.
 circleci local execute --job JOB_NAME
 ```
 
+## Necessary Environment Variables
+The Django backend expects to find the database login info in the environment.  
+To run in the local CircleCI for the django unit tests (for example), use the following:
+
+```
+circleci local execute -e FECFILE_DB_HOST=localhost \
+         -e FECFILE_DB_USERNAME=postgres \
+         -e FECFILE_DB_PASSWORD=postgres \
+         -e FECFILE_DB_NAME=postgres \
+         --job unit-test-django
+```
+
 ## CircleCI configuration
 To get CircleCI to run tests, you have to configure the
 project in the Circle web applicaiton https://app.circleci.com/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index df54955e1b..c5c473d146 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -14,11 +14,7 @@ jobs:
     # A list of available CircleCI Docker convenience images are available here: https://circleci.com/developer/images/image/cimg/python
     docker:
       - image: cimg/python:3.7
-    # Checkout the code as the first step. This is a dedicated CircleCI step.
-    # The python orb's install-packages step will install the dependencies from a Pipfile via Pipenv by default.
-    # Here we're making sure we use just use the system-wide pip. By default it uses the project root's requirements.txt.
-    # Then run your tests!
-    # CircleCI will report the results back to your VCS provider.
+
     steps:
       - checkout
 
@@ -39,11 +35,8 @@ jobs:
     # A list of available CircleCI Docker convenience images are available here: https://circleci.com/developer/images/image/cimg/python
     docker:
       - image: cimg/python:3.7
-    # Checkout the code as the first step. This is a dedicated CircleCI step.
-    # The python orb's install-packages step will install the dependencies from a Pipfile via Pipenv by default.
-    # Here we're making sure we use just use the system-wide pip. By default it uses the project root's requirements.txt.
-    # Then run your tests!
-    # CircleCI will report the results back to your VCS provider.
+      - image: cimg/postgres:12.8
+
     steps:
       - checkout
 
@@ -51,6 +44,12 @@ jobs:
           pkg-manager: pip
           app-dir: ~/project/django-backend/
           pip-dependency-file: requirements.txt
+
+      - run:
+          name: Wait for the database to be active
+          command: python wait_for_db.py
+          working_directory: ~/project/django-backend/
+
       - run:
           name: Run tests
           # This assumes pytest is installed via the install-package step above
@@ -126,7 +125,7 @@ jobs:
 workflows:
   test: # This is the name of the workflow, feel free to change it to better match your workflow.
     jobs:
-#      - unit-test-django
+      - unit-test-django
       - lint-python
       - lint-angular
 #      - unit-test-angular
diff --git a/db/Dockerfile b/db/Dockerfile
index 429d8cac85..a2a99336fd 100644
--- a/db/Dockerfile
+++ b/db/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM postgres:10
+FROM postgres:12
 
 ENV POSTGRES_USER=postgres
 ENV POSTGRES_NAME=postgres
diff --git a/django-backend/requirements.txt b/django-backend/requirements.txt
index e42970afd6..7ac1b46d0a 100644
--- a/django-backend/requirements.txt
+++ b/django-backend/requirements.txt
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ PyYAML==4.2b1
 regex==2018.11.22
 requests==2.23.0
 requests-toolbelt==0.8.0
-retrying==1.3.3
+retry==0.9.2
 s3transfer==0.1.13
 simplegeneric==0.8.1
 simplejson==3.16.0
diff --git a/django-backend/wait_for_db.py b/django-backend/wait_for_db.py
index c6606074ad..0e2179fb03 100644
--- a/django-backend/wait_for_db.py
+++ b/django-backend/wait_for_db.py
@@ -1,12 +1,16 @@
 import psycopg2
 import os
-from retrying import retry
+from retry import retry
 
 
-@retry(wait_fixed=2000)
+@retry(delay=2, tries=15)
 def postgres_test():
     try:
 
+        if os.environ.get('FECFILE_DB_NAME') == None and os.environ.get('FECFILE_DB_PASSWORD') == None:
+            print("Environment settings for database and password not found. Please check your settings and try again")
+            exit(1)
+
         print("testing connection with dbname={} user={} host={} password={} connect_timeout=3000".
             format(
             os.environ.get('FECFILE_DB_NAME'),
@@ -22,6 +26,7 @@ def postgres_test():
                 os.environ.get('FECFILE_DB_HOST'),
                 os.environ.get('FECFILE_DB_PASSWORD')))
         conn.close()
+        print ("DB connection successful")
         return True
     except ImportError:
         return False