diff --git a/packages/react-native-codegen/DEFS.bzl b/packages/react-native-codegen/DEFS.bzl
index 7f52f314861930..606db2c3eb86fd 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-codegen/DEFS.bzl
+++ b/packages/react-native-codegen/DEFS.bzl
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def rn_codegen_cli():
             bash = r"""
                 set -euo pipefail
                 mkdir -p "$OUT"
-                cp -r "$SRCDIR/." "$OUT/"
+                rsync -rLptgoD "$SRCDIR/" "$OUT"
                 cd "$OUT"
                 yarn install 2> >(grep -v '^warning' 1>&2)
                 yarn run build
diff --git a/scripts/validate-android-test-env.sh b/scripts/validate-android-test-env.sh
index 5f6be9956cba97..121c832128de96 100755
--- a/scripts/validate-android-test-env.sh
+++ b/scripts/validate-android-test-env.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 # the android sdk that is actually installed. Also, we must have the
 # right version of Java.
 
+THIS_DIR=$(cd -P "$(dirname "$(readlink "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" || echo "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")" && pwd)
+
 # Check that Buck is working.
 if [ -z "$(which buck)" ]; then
   echo "You need to install Buck."
@@ -115,3 +117,14 @@ if [ -z "$JAVA_HOME" ]; then
   echo "You will also want to add \$JAVA_HOME/bin to your path."
   exit 1
 fi
+
+# Assuming Android SDK/NDK has been set up, set up `local.properties` file
+# to force Gradle to use the provided versions. This is necessary before
+# the side-by-side NDK installation is supported for Circle CI runs.
+LOCAL_PROPERTIES="$THIS_DIR/../local.properties"
+if [ ! -f "$LOCAL_PROPERTIES" ]; then
+  echo "Setting up local.properties for NDK builds."
+  touch "$LOCAL_PROPERTIES"
+  echo "sdk.dir=$ANDROID_HOME" >> "$LOCAL_PROPERTIES"
+  echo "ndk.dir=$ANDROID_NDK" >> "$LOCAL_PROPERTIES"
+fi