diff --git a/cmake/xsdk.cmake b/cmake/xsdk.cmake
index 8b73439ac..1bc427063 100644
--- a/cmake/xsdk.cmake
+++ b/cmake/xsdk.cmake
@@ -14,3 +14,21 @@ function(xsdk_begin_package)
     set(user_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS ${BUILD_SHARED_LIBS})
   endif()
 endfunction(xsdk_begin_package)
+
+function(xsdk_add_tpl name)
+  if(USE_XSDK_DEFAULTS)
+    set(TPL_ENABLE_${name} "" CACHE STRING "XSDK option to enable ${name} [ON|OFF]")
+    set(TPL_${name}_INCLUDE_DIRS "" CACHE STRING "XSDK compatible flag to specify ${name} include dirs")
+    set(TPL_${name}_LIBRARIES "" CACHE STRING "XSDK compatible flag to specify ${name} libraries")
+    #set the non-xsdk enable flag
+    set(ENABLE_${name} ${TPL_ENABLE_${name}} PARENT_SCOPE)
+    #set the include path cmake searches
+    list(APPEND CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH ${TPL_${name}_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    set(CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH ${CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH} PARENT_SCOPE)
+    #set the library path cmake searches
+    list(GET TPL_${name}_LIBRARIES 0 firstlib)
+    get_filename_component(libdir ${firstlib} DIRECTORY)
+    list(APPEND CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH ${libdir})
+    set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH ${CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH} PARENT_SCOPE)
+  endif()
+endfunction(xsdk_add_tpl)
diff --git a/pcu/CMakeLists.txt b/pcu/CMakeLists.txt
index 7a4aa0b66..cb4431963 100644
--- a/pcu/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/pcu/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ target_include_directories(pcu
 
 # Check for and enable compression support
 if(PCU_COMPRESS)
+  xsdk_add_tpl(BZIP2)
   find_package(BZip2 REQUIRED)
   target_include_directories(pcu PRIVATE ${BZIP2_INCLUDE_DIR})
   target_link_libraries(pcu PRIVATE ${BZIP2_LIBRARIES})
diff --git a/zoltan/CMakeLists.txt b/zoltan/CMakeLists.txt
index cf62db48d..5450ee52a 100644
--- a/zoltan/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/zoltan/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ endif()
 
 # Package options
 option(ENABLE_ZOLTAN "Enable Zoltan interface [ON|OFF]" OFF)
+xsdk_add_tpl(ZOLTAN)
+xsdk_add_tpl(PARMETIS)
 message(STATUS "ENABLE_ZOLTAN: " ${ENABLE_ZOLTAN})
 
 # Let CMake know where to find custom find package implementations