diff --git a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix3x/pmix3x_client.c b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix3x/pmix3x_client.c
index f24e2c3c19..caf1a409f4 100644
--- a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix3x/pmix3x_client.c
+++ b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix3x/pmix3x_client.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2017-2018 The University of Tennessee and The University
  *                         of Tennessee Research Foundation.  All rights
  *                         reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2019      IBM Corporation.  All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -101,11 +102,6 @@ int pmix3x_client_init(opal_list_t *ilist)
         ninfo = 0;
     }
 
-    /* check for direct modex use-case */
-    if (opal_pmix_base_async_modex && !opal_pmix_collect_all_data) {
-        opal_setenv("PMIX_MCA_gds", "hash", true, &environ);
-    }
-
     OPAL_PMIX_RELEASE_THREAD(&opal_pmix_base.lock);
     rc = PMIx_Init(&mca_pmix_pmix3x_component.myproc, pinfo, ninfo);
     if (NULL != pinfo) {
diff --git a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix3x/pmix3x_server_south.c b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix3x/pmix3x_server_south.c
index ac36b69877..c50f6d8d0e 100644
--- a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix3x/pmix3x_server_south.c
+++ b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix3x/pmix3x_server_south.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2017-2018 The University of Tennessee and The University
  *                         of Tennessee Research Foundation.  All rights
  *                         reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2019      IBM Corporation.  All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -132,11 +133,6 @@ int pmix3x_server_init(opal_pmix_server_module_t *module,
         }
     }
 
-    /* check for direct modex use-case */
-    if (opal_pmix_base_async_modex && !opal_pmix_collect_all_data) {
-        opal_setenv("PMIX_MCA_gds", "hash", true, &environ);
-    }
-
     /* insert ourselves into our list of jobids - it will be the
      * first, and so we'll check it first */
     job = OBJ_NEW(opal_pmix3x_jobid_trkr_t);