diff --git a/transfer_service/config/vos_ts.conf.sample b/transfer_service/config/vos_ts.conf.sample
index 14e6c4e432d5ab4132c963c9d39cfe5c57f0e615..40a821e31c403885754acbd87a50fe1db43a8c4c 100644
--- a/transfer_service/config/vos_ts.conf.sample
+++ b/transfer_service/config/vos_ts.conf.sample
@@ -80,8 +80,8 @@ max_terminated_jobs = 8
 ; maximum number of jobs within the 'clean' ('read' only) queue, default is 8
 max_clean_jobs = 8
 ; minimum time interval in seconds between two consecutive checks on 
-; job queues, default is 15 s, minimum allowed is 10 s
-exec_wait_time = 15
+; job queues, default is 10 s, minimum allowed is 5 s
+exec_wait_time = 10
 
 [transfer]
 ; split data to be retrieved in blocks of a given size
diff --git a/transfer_service/task_executor.py b/transfer_service/task_executor.py
index 3b4f048f193702e4c6097b85d7820905e91c0508..3baee0339a52a13070ecb3c97aa33dbeb7eb7d91 100644
--- a/transfer_service/task_executor.py
+++ b/transfer_service/task_executor.py
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ class TaskExecutor(Process):
         self.maxTerminatedJobs = params.getint("max_terminated_jobs")
         self.maxCleanJobs = params.getint("max_clean_jobs")
         self.execWaitTime = params.getint("exec_wait_time")
-        if self.execWaitTime < 10:
-            self.execWaitTime = 10
+        if self.execWaitTime < 5:
+            self.execWaitTime = 5
         self.srcQueue = None
         self.destQueue = None
         super(TaskExecutor, self).__init__()