diff --git a/core_backend/app/config.py b/core_backend/app/config.py
index f762c2ae2..501417626 100644
--- a/core_backend/app/config.py
+++ b/core_backend/app/config.py
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@
 LITELLM_MODEL_GENERATION = os.environ.get(
     "LITELLM_MODEL_GENERATION",
     "openai/generate-gemini-response",
-    # "LITELLM_MODEL_GENERATION", "openai/generate-response"
+    # "LITELLM_MODEL_GENERATION",
+    # "openai/generate-response",
 )
 LITELLM_MODEL_LANGUAGE_DETECT = os.environ.get(
     "LITELLM_MODEL_LANGUAGE_DETECT", "openai/detect-language"
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@
 ALIGN_SCORE_METHOD = os.environ.get("ALIGN_SCORE_METHOD", "LLM")
 # if AlignScore, set ALIGN_SCORE_API. If LLM, set LITELLM_MODEL_ALIGNSCORE above.
 ALIGN_SCORE_API = os.environ.get("ALIGN_SCORE_API", "")
+ALIGN_SCORE_N_RETRIES = os.environ.get("ALIGN_SCORE_N_RETRIES", 1)
 
 # Backend paths
 BACKEND_ROOT_PATH = os.environ.get("BACKEND_ROOT_PATH", "")
diff --git a/core_backend/app/llm_call/process_output.py b/core_backend/app/llm_call/process_output.py
index 4a2eaf650..3f550e2f9 100644
--- a/core_backend/app/llm_call/process_output.py
+++ b/core_backend/app/llm_call/process_output.py
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ async def wrapper(
 
         response = await func(query_refined, response, *args, **kwargs)
 
-        if not kwargs.get("generate_llm_response", False):
+        if not query_refined.generate_llm_response:
             return response
 
         metadata = create_langfuse_metadata(
diff --git a/core_backend/app/question_answer/routers.py b/core_backend/app/question_answer/routers.py
index 02346c72e..7a72abbd0 100644
--- a/core_backend/app/question_answer/routers.py
+++ b/core_backend/app/question_answer/routers.py
@@ -5,13 +5,14 @@
 import os
 from typing import Tuple
 
+import backoff
 from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, File, Form, HTTPException, UploadFile, status
 from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse
 from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
 
 from ..auth.dependencies import authenticate_key, rate_limiter
-from ..config import SPEECH_ENDPOINT
+from ..config import ALIGN_SCORE_N_RETRIES, SPEECH_ENDPOINT
 from ..contents.models import (
     get_similar_content_async,
     increment_query_count,
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@
 )
 from .schemas import (
     ContentFeedback,
+    ErrorType,
     QueryBase,
     QueryRefined,
     QueryResponse,
@@ -216,6 +218,17 @@ async def search(
         contents=response.search_results,
         asession=asession,
     )
+    if is_unable_to_generate_response(response):
+        failure_reason = response.debug_info["factual_consistency"]
+        response = await retry_search(
+            query_refined=user_query_refined_template,
+            response=response_template,
+            user_id=user_db.user_id,
+            n_similar=int(N_TOP_CONTENT),
+            asession=asession,
+            exclude_archived=True,
+        )
+        response.debug_info["past_failure"] = failure_reason
 
     if type(response) is QueryResponse:
         return response
@@ -234,8 +247,8 @@ async def search(
 @classify_safety__before
 @translate_question__before
 @paraphrase_question__before
-@generate_llm_response__after
 @check_align_score__after
+@generate_llm_response__after
 async def search_base(
     query_refined: QueryRefined,
     response: QueryResponse,
@@ -288,6 +301,39 @@ async def search_base(
     return response
 
 
+def is_unable_to_generate_response(response: QueryResponse) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check if the response is of type QueryResponseError and caused
+    by low alignment score.
+    """
+    return (
+        isinstance(response, QueryResponseError)
+        and response.error_type == ErrorType.ALIGNMENT_TOO_LOW
+    )
+
+
+@backoff.on_predicate(
+    backoff.expo,
+    max_tries=int(ALIGN_SCORE_N_RETRIES),
+    predicate=is_unable_to_generate_response,
+)
+async def retry_search(
+    query_refined: QueryRefined,
+    response: QueryResponse | QueryResponseError,
+    user_id: int,
+    n_similar: int,
+    asession: AsyncSession,
+    exclude_archived: bool = True,
+) -> QueryResponse | QueryResponseError:
+    """
+    Retry wrapper for search_base.
+    """
+
+    return await search_base(
+        query_refined, response, user_id, n_similar, asession, exclude_archived
+    )
+
+
 async def get_user_query_and_response(
     user_id: int, user_query: QueryBase, asession: AsyncSession
 ) -> Tuple[QueryDB, QueryRefined, QueryResponse]:
diff --git a/core_backend/requirements.txt b/core_backend/requirements.txt
index 6e6b15134..667d5ab9d 100644
--- a/core_backend/requirements.txt
+++ b/core_backend/requirements.txt
@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@ types-openpyxl==3.1.4.20240621
 redis==5.0.8
 python-dateutil==2.8.2
 gTTS==2.5.1
+backoff==2.2.1