diff --git a/orte/mca/ras/alps/help-ras-alps.txt b/orte/mca/ras/alps/help-ras-alps.txt
index 3e56a4443d..6b5d095024 100644
--- a/orte/mca/ras/alps/help-ras-alps.txt
+++ b/orte/mca/ras/alps/help-ras-alps.txt
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 #                         University of Stuttgart.  All rights reserved.
 # Copyright (c) 2004-2005 The Regents of the University of California.
 #                         All rights reserved.
+# Copyrigth (c) 2020      Triad National Security, LLC. All rights
+#                         reserved.
 # $COPYRIGHT$
 #
 # Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -25,14 +27,15 @@ variables:
 
 	 OMPI_ALPS_RESID
 	 BASIL_RESERVATION_ID
+	 COBALT_JOBID
 
 However, it was unable to find either one of these variables.
 
 #This is a fatal error.
 [alps-env-var-invalid]
 While trying to determine what resources are available, the ALPS
-resource allocator uses either the OMPI_ALPS_RESID or the
-BASIL_RESERVATION_ID environment variable.
+resource allocator uses either the OMPI_ALPS_RESID,
+BASIL_RESERVATION_ID, or COBALT_JOBID environment variable.
 
 However, an error was encountered when trying to parse the variable:
 
diff --git a/orte/mca/ras/alps/ras_alps_component.c b/orte/mca/ras/alps/ras_alps_component.c
index 2bf719c80e..322df6214b 100644
--- a/orte/mca/ras/alps/ras_alps_component.c
+++ b/orte/mca/ras/alps/ras_alps_component.c
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2008      UT-Battelle, LLC
  * Copyright (c) 2011-2015 Los Alamos National Security, LLC. All rights
  *                         reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2020      Triad National Security, LLC. All rights
+ *                         reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -104,7 +106,12 @@ get_res_id(void)
     if (NULL != (id = getenv("BATCH_PARTITION_ID"))) {
         return strtoul(id, NULL, 10);
     }
-    if (NULL != (id = getenv("PBS_JOBID"))) {
+
+    id = getenv("PBS_JOBID");
+    if (NULL == id) {
+        id = getenv("COBALT_JOBID");
+    }
+    if (NULL != id) {
         char *prepped_jid = prep_job_id(id);
         if (NULL == prepped_jid) {
             /* out of resources */