diff --git a/external/scalapackpp.cmake b/external/scalapackpp.cmake
index 2bc43b5d9c..ee044a85b6 100644
--- a/external/scalapackpp.cmake
+++ b/external/scalapackpp.cmake
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 if (NOT TARGET scalapackpp::scalapackpp)
-  set(VGCMAKEKIT_TRACKED_SCALAPACKPP_TAG ${TA_TRACKED_SCALAPACKPP_TAG})
+  set(VGCMAKEKIT_TRACKED_SCALAPACKPP_TAG ${TA_TRACKED_SCALAPACKPP_TAG} CACHE STRING "scalapackpp tag")
   include(FindOrFetchScaLAPACKPP)
 endif()
 
-# built {blacs,scalapack}pp as a subproject?
+# built {blacs,scalapack}pp as a subproject? install as part of tiledarray export as well
+# to be able to use TiledArray_SCALAPACK from the build tree
 if (TARGET blacspp AND TARGET scalapackpp)
     install( TARGETS blacspp scalapackpp EXPORT tiledarray COMPONENT tiledarray )
     # Add these dependencies to External
diff --git a/external/versions.cmake b/external/versions.cmake
index d37f7e7853..12b2746796 100644
--- a/external/versions.cmake
+++ b/external/versions.cmake
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # for each dependency track both current and previous id (the variable for the latter must contain PREVIOUS)
 # to be able to auto-update them
 
-set(TA_TRACKED_VGCMAKEKIT_TAG ce43ec6fd32d4dcb3df5426d7addc90e6cfff85c)
+set(TA_TRACKED_VGCMAKEKIT_TAG 40807901a7799ef98ce5345c86d485f81b460885)
 
 # Boost explicitly downgraded to 1.59 from 1.68
 set(TA_TRACKED_BOOST_VERSION 1.59)
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ set(TA_TRACKED_CUTT_PREVIOUS_TAG 592198b93c93b7ca79e7900b9a9f2e79f9dafec3)
 set(TA_TRACKED_UMPIRE_TAG f9640e0fa4245691cdd434e4f719ac5f7d455f82)
 set(TA_TRACKED_UMPIRE_PREVIOUS_TAG v6.0.0)
 
-set(TA_TRACKED_SCALAPACKPP_TAG bf17a7246af38d34523bd0099b01d9961d06d311 )
-set(TA_TRACKED_SCALAPACKPP_PREVIOUS_TAG 043f85d7f31ec6009740ab466bcb5008af7b0814 )
+set(TA_TRACKED_SCALAPACKPP_TAG 711ef363479a90c88788036f9c6c8adb70736cbf)
+set(TA_TRACKED_SCALAPACKPP_PREVIOUS_TAG bf17a7246af38d34523bd0099b01d9961d06d311 )
 
 set(TA_TRACKED_RANGEV3_TAG 2e0591c57fce2aca6073ad6e4fdc50d841827864)
 set(TA_TRACKED_RANGEV3_PREVIOUS_TAG dbdaa247a25a0daa24c68f1286a5693c72ea0006)
diff --git a/src/TiledArray/external/madness.h b/src/TiledArray/external/madness.h
index 20ad5b415f..81775d9939 100644
--- a/src/TiledArray/external/madness.h
+++ b/src/TiledArray/external/madness.h
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ struct default_world {
     if (!world()) {
       TA_ASSERT(madness::initialized() &&
                 "TiledArray::detail::default_world::get() called "
-                "before madness::initialize()");
+                "before madness::initialize() OR after madness::finalize()");
       world() = &madness::World::get_default();
     }
     return *world();