diff --git a/apps/dsp-app/src/app/project/reusable-project-form/shortcode-exists.validator.ts b/apps/dsp-app/src/app/project/reusable-project-form/shortcode-exists.validator.ts
index 17ee1c540b..78134f1e6f 100644
--- a/apps/dsp-app/src/app/project/reusable-project-form/shortcode-exists.validator.ts
+++ b/apps/dsp-app/src/app/project/reusable-project-form/shortcode-exists.validator.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { AbstractControl, ValidatorFn, ValidationErrors } from '@angular/forms';
+import { AbstractControl, ValidationErrors, ValidatorFn } from '@angular/forms';
 
 /**
  * shortcodeValidator: Validate the shortcode value against
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import { AbstractControl, ValidatorFn, ValidationErrors } from '@angular/forms';
  */
 export function shortcodeExistsValidator(shortcodes: string[]): ValidatorFn {
   return (control: AbstractControl): ValidationErrors | null => {
-    return shortcodes.includes(control.value) ? { shortcodeExists: true } : null;
+    return shortcodes.some(e => e.toLowerCase().search(control.value.toLowerCase()) !== -1)
+      ? { shortcodeExists: true }
+      : null;
   };
 }
diff --git a/libs/vre/shared/app-error-handler/src/lib/app-error-handler.ts b/libs/vre/shared/app-error-handler/src/lib/app-error-handler.ts
index 45e6ec9c4c..05d6e3f0d0 100644
--- a/libs/vre/shared/app-error-handler/src/lib/app-error-handler.ts
+++ b/libs/vre/shared/app-error-handler/src/lib/app-error-handler.ts
@@ -28,12 +28,19 @@ export class AppErrorHandler implements ErrorHandler {
 
   private handleHttpErrorResponse(error: HttpErrorResponse) {
     if (error.status === 400) {
-      const readableErrorMatch = error.error.error.match(/dsp\.errors\.BadRequestException:(.*)$/);
-      this.displayNotification(readableErrorMatch[1]);
-      return;
-    } else if (error.status >= 400 && error.status < 500) {
-      const readableErrorMatch = error.error.error.match(/\((.*)\)$/);
-      this.displayNotification(readableErrorMatch[1]);
+      if (error.error?.error) {
+        const badRequestRegexMatch = error.error.error.match(/dsp\.errors\.BadRequestException:(.*)$/);
+
+        if (badRequestRegexMatch) {
+          this.displayNotification(badRequestRegexMatch[1]);
+        }
+
+        this.testInvalidRequest(error.error.error);
+      } else if (typeof error.error === 'string') {
+        this.testInvalidRequest(error.error);
+      } else if (error.error.message) {
+        this.displayNotification(error.error.message);
+      }
       return;
     }
 
@@ -63,4 +70,12 @@ export class AppErrorHandler implements ErrorHandler {
   private displayNotification(message: string) {
     this._notification.openSnackBar(message, 'error');
   }
+
+  // TODO ask the backend to uniformize their response, so that this method is only called once.
+  private testInvalidRequest(error: string) {
+    const invalidRequestRegexMatch = error.match(/\((.*)\)$/);
+    if (invalidRequestRegexMatch) {
+      this.displayNotification(invalidRequestRegexMatch[1]);
+    }
+  }
 }