diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/autoscaling/Policy.java b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/autoscaling/Policy.java
index 8a1292d1490..614bfa27d82 100644
--- a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/autoscaling/Policy.java
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/autoscaling/Policy.java
@@ -165,13 +165,7 @@ public class Policy implements MapWriter {
           .collect(Collectors.toList());
 
       for (String c : collections) {
-        String p = dataProvider.getPolicy(c);
-        if (p != null) {
-          List<Clause> perCollPolicy = policies.get(p);
-          if (perCollPolicy == null)
-            throw new RuntimeException(StrUtils.formatString("Policy for collection {0} is {1} . It does not exist", c, p));
-        }
-        expandedClauses.addAll(mergePolicies(c, policies.getOrDefault(p, emptyList()), clusterPolicy));
+        addClausesForCollection(dataProvider, c);
       }
 
       Collections.sort(expandedClauses);
@@ -183,6 +177,16 @@ public class Policy implements MapWriter {
       applyRules();
     }
 
+    private void addClausesForCollection(ClusterDataProvider dataProvider, String c) {
+      String p = dataProvider.getPolicy(c);
+      if (p != null) {
+        List<Clause> perCollPolicy = policies.get(p);
+        if (perCollPolicy == null)
+          throw new RuntimeException(StrUtils.formatString("Policy for collection {0} is {1} . It does not exist", c, p));
+      }
+      expandedClauses.addAll(mergePolicies(c, policies.getOrDefault(p, emptyList()), clusterPolicy));
+    }
+
     Session copy() {
       return new Session(nodes, dataProvider, getMatrixCopy(), expandedClauses, paramsOfInterest);
     }
@@ -343,6 +347,16 @@ public class Policy implements MapWriter {
 
     public SolrRequest getOperation() {
       if (!isInitialized) {
+        String coll = (String) hints.get(Hint.COLL);
+        if(coll != null){
+          // if this is not a known collection from the existing clusterstate,
+          // then add it
+          if(session.matrix.stream().noneMatch(row -> row.replicaInfo.containsKey(coll))){
+            session.matrix.get(0).replicaInfo.put(coll, new HashMap<>());
+            session.addClausesForCollection(session.dataProvider, coll);
+            Collections.sort(session.expandedClauses);
+          }
+        }
         session.applyRules();
         originalViolations.addAll(session.getViolations());
         this.operation = init();
diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/autoscaling/PolicyHelper.java b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/autoscaling/PolicyHelper.java
index 2012be805de..6b199c21026 100644
--- a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/autoscaling/PolicyHelper.java
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/autoscaling/PolicyHelper.java
@@ -54,13 +54,7 @@ public class PolicyHelper {
 
         @Override
         public Map<String, Map<String, List<Policy.ReplicaInfo>>> getReplicaInfo(String node, Collection<String> keys) {
-          Map<String, Map<String, List<Policy.ReplicaInfo>>> replicaInfo = delegate.getReplicaInfo(node, keys);
-          for (String s : optionalPolicyMapping.keySet()) {
-            if (!replicaInfo.containsKey(s)) {
-              replicaInfo.put(s, new HashMap<>());
-            }
-          }
-          return replicaInfo;
+          return delegate.getReplicaInfo(node, keys);
         }
 
         @Override