diff --git a/awx/playbooks/project_update.yml b/awx/playbooks/project_update.yml
index f32e761a413f..261c2b57e51e 100644
--- a/awx/playbooks/project_update.yml
+++ b/awx/playbooks/project_update.yml
@@ -219,14 +219,14 @@
             cmd: "ansible-galaxy role install -r {{ req_file }} {{ verbosity }}"
           register: galaxy_result
           vars:
-            req_file: "{{ req_candidates | first_found }}"
+            req_file: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.first_found', req_candidates, skip=True) }}"
             req_candidates:
               - "{{ project_path | quote }}/roles/requirements.yml"
               - "{{ project_path | quote }}/roles/requirements.yaml"
           changed_when: "'was installed successfully' in galaxy_result.stdout"
           when:
             - roles_enabled | bool
-            - req_file is file
+            - req_file
           tags:
             - install_roles
 
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@
             cmd: "ansible-galaxy collection install -r {{ req_file }} {{ verbosity }}"
           register: galaxy_collection_result
           vars:
-            req_file: "{{ req_candidates | first_found }}"
+            req_file: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.first_found', req_candidates, skip=True) }}"
             req_candidates:
               - "{{ project_path | quote }}/collections/requirements.yml"
               - "{{ project_path | quote }}/collections/requirements.yaml"
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@
           when:
             - "ansible_version.full is version_compare('2.9', '>=')"
             - collections_enabled | bool
-            - req_file is file
+            - req_file
           tags:
             - install_collections
 
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@
             cmd: "ansible-galaxy install -r {{ req_file }} {{ verbosity }}"
           register: galaxy_combined_result
           vars:
-            req_file: "{{ req_candidates | first_found }}"
+            req_file: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.first_found', req_candidates, skip=True) }}"
             req_candidates:
               - "{{ project_path | quote }}/requirements.yaml"
               - "{{ project_path | quote }}/requirements.yml"
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@
             - "ansible_version.full is version_compare('2.10', '>=')"
             - collections_enabled | bool
             - roles_enabled | bool
-            - req_file is file
+            - req_file
           tags:
             - install_collections
             - install_roles