diff --git a/utils/bazel/.bazelrc b/utils/bazel/.bazelrc
--- a/utils/bazel/.bazelrc
+++ b/utils/bazel/.bazelrc
@@ -168,6 +168,17 @@
 # Show test errors.
 build:ci --test_output=errors
 
+# Workaround bazel pre-merge failures.
+# RBE was removed. Instead ci should be used, but provide common values here.
+
+build:rbe --config=ci
+
+# Undo linker settings in generic_clang that are not supported in the current
+# environment of the bazel pre-merge checks. Remove once the docker container is
+# updated with clang-13 and lld-13
+build:rbe --linkopt="" --host_linkopt=""
+build:rbe --remote_cache=https://storage.googleapis.com/llvm-bazel-cache
+build:rbe --google_default_credentials=true
 ###############################################################################
 
 # The user.bazelrc file is not checked in but available for local mods.