diff --git a/planetstack/hpc_observer/steps/sync_contentprovider.py b/planetstack/hpc_observer/steps/sync_contentprovider.py
index e10dca9..c7335d6 100644
--- a/planetstack/hpc_observer/steps/sync_contentprovider.py
+++ b/planetstack/hpc_observer/steps/sync_contentprovider.py
@@ -24,6 +24,20 @@
         SyncStep.__init__(self, **args)
         HpcLibrary.__init__(self)
 
+    def fetch_pending(self, deleted):
+        self.sanity_check()
+
+        return SyncStep.fetch_pending(self, deleted)
+
+    def sanity_check(self):
+        # sanity check to make sure our PS objects have CMI objects behind them
+        all_cp_ids = [x["content_provider_id"] for x in self.client.onev.ListAll("ContentProvider")]
+        for cp in ContentProvider.objects.all():
+            if (cp.content_provider_id is not None) and (cp.content_provider_id not in all_cp_ids):
+                logger.info("Content provider %s was not found on CMI" % cp.content_provider_id)
+                cp.content_provider_id=None
+                cp.save()
+
     def sync_record(self, cp):
         logger.info("sync'ing content provider %s" % str(cp))
         account_name = self.make_account_name(cp.name)