diff --git a/scripts/ci/cmake/ci-el7-spack.cmake b/scripts/ci/cmake/ci-el7-spack.cmake
index f7ef4848ba..6fcd590243 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/cmake/ci-el7-spack.cmake
+++ b/scripts/ci/cmake/ci-el7-spack.cmake
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ ADIOS2_USE_ZFP:BOOL=ON
 ADIOS2_USE_Blosc:BOOL=ON
 ADIOS2_USE_DataSpaces:BOOL=OFF
 
+ADIOS2_USE_EXTERNAL_DEPENDENCIES:BOOL=ON
+ADIOS2_USE_EXTERNAL_GTEST:BOOL=OFF
+ADIOS2_USE_EXTERNAL_PUGIXML:BOOL=OFF
+
 MPIEXEC_EXTRA_FLAGS:STRING=--allow-run-as-root --oversubscribe
 MPIEXEC_MAX_NUMPROCS:STRING=${N2CPUS}
 ")
diff --git a/scripts/ci/cmake/ci-ubuntu1804-spack.cmake b/scripts/ci/cmake/ci-ubuntu1804-spack.cmake
index 38e8cc0bd4..2b833980d4 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/cmake/ci-ubuntu1804-spack.cmake
+++ b/scripts/ci/cmake/ci-ubuntu1804-spack.cmake
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ ADIOS2_USE_ZFP:BOOL=ON
 ADIOS2_USE_Blosc:BOOL=ON
 ADIOS2_USE_DataSpaces:BOOL=OFF
 
+ADIOS2_USE_EXTERNAL_DEPENDENCIES:BOOL=ON
+ADIOS2_USE_EXTERNAL_GTEST:BOOL=OFF
+ADIOS2_USE_EXTERNAL_PUGIXML:BOOL=OFF
+
 MPIEXEC_EXTRA_FLAGS:STRING=--allow-run-as-root --oversubscribe
 MPIEXEC_MAX_NUMPROCS:STRING=${N2CPUS}
 ")