diff --git a/orte/config/orte_check_alps.m4 b/orte/config/orte_check_alps.m4
index cf165d772b..6b0ea79a03 100644
--- a/orte/config/orte_check_alps.m4
+++ b/orte/config/orte_check_alps.m4
@@ -27,27 +27,59 @@ AC_DEFUN([ORTE_CHECK_ALPS],[
         AC_REQUIRE([ORTE_CHECK_PMI])
 
 	AC_ARG_WITH([alps],
-	    [AC_HELP_STRING([--with-alps],
-		    [Build ALPS scheduler component (default: no)])])
-	if test "$with_alps" = "yes" ; then
-	    orte_check_alps_happy="yes"
+	    [AC_HELP_STRING([--with-alps(=DIR|yes|no)],
+		    [Build with ALPS scheduler component, optionally adding DIR/include, DIR/lib, and DIR/lib64 to the search path for headers and libraries (default: no)])])
+	OMPI_CHECK_WITHDIR([alps], [$with_alps], [.])
+
+	AC_ARG_WITH([alps-libdir],
+	    [AC_HELP_STRING([--with-alps-libdir=DIR],
+		    [Location of alps libraries (alpslli, alpsutil) (default: /usr/lib/alps)])])
+
+	# save the CPPFLAGS so we can check for alps/apInfo.h without adding $with_alps/include to the global path
+	orte_check_alps_$1_save_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS"
+
+	if test "$with_alps" != "no" ; then
            # Only need to do these tests once (this macro is invoked
            # from multiple different components' configure.m4 scripts
+
+	   orte_check_alps_happy="yes"
+	   orte_check_alps_libdir="$with_alps_libdir"
+	   
+	   if -z "$orte_check_alps_libdir" ; then
+	       if test "$with_alps" != "yes" ; then
+		   AS_IF([test -d "$with_alps/lib64"],
+		       [orte_check_alps_libdir="$with_alps/lib64"],
+		       [orte_check_alps_libdir="$with_alps/lib64"])
+	       else
+		   orte_check_alps_libdir="/usr/lib/alps"
+	       fi
+	   fi
+
+	   AS_IF([test "$with_alps" = "yes"],
+	         [orte_check_alps_dir="/usr"],
+   	         [orte_check_alps_dir="$with_alps"])
+
+	   $1_CPPFLAGS="-I$orte_check_alps_dir/include"
+	   $1_LDFLAGS="-L$orte_check_alps_libdir"
+
            if test -z "$orte_check_alps_pmi_happy"; then
                # if pmi support is requested, then ORTE_CHECK_PMI
                # will have added the -lpmi flag to LIBS. We then need
                # to add a couple of alps libs to support static
                # builds
                orte_check_alps_pmi_happy=no
+
                if test "$orte_enable_pmi" = 1 ; then
-                   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for /usr/lib/alps])
-                   AS_IF([test -d /usr/lib/alps],
+                   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for alps libraries in "$orte_check_alps_libdir"])
+
+                   # libalpslli and libalpsutil are needed by libpmi to compile statically
+                   AS_IF([test -f "$orte_check_alps_libdir/libalpslli.a" -a -f "$orte_check_alps_libdir/libalpsutil.a"],
                          [AC_MSG_RESULT([found])
                           orte_check_alps_pmi_happy=yes],
                          [AC_MSG_RESULT([not found])])
 
                    AS_IF([test "$orte_check_alps_pmi_happy" = "yes" -a "$orte_without_full_support" = 0],
-                         [WRAPPER_EXTRA_LDFLAGS="$WRAPPER_EXTRA_LDFLAGS -L/usr/lib/alps"
+                         [WRAPPER_EXTRA_LDFLAGS="$WRAPPER_EXTRA_LDFLAGS -L$orte_check_alps_libdir"
                           WRAPPER_EXTRA_LIBS="$WRAPPER_EXTRA_LIBS -lalpslli -lalpsutil"],
                          [AC_MSG_WARN([PMI support for Alps requested but not found])
                           AC_MSG_ERROR([Cannot continue])])
diff --git a/orte/mca/ras/alps/configure.m4 b/orte/mca/ras/alps/configure.m4
index dfa9a97848..3c4348ab35 100644
--- a/orte/mca/ras/alps/configure.m4
+++ b/orte/mca/ras/alps/configure.m4
@@ -26,7 +26,21 @@
 AC_DEFUN([MCA_orte_ras_alps_CONFIG],[
     AC_CONFIG_FILES([orte/mca/ras/alps/Makefile])
 
-	ORTE_CHECK_ALPS([ras_alps], [ras_alps_happy="yes"], [ras_alps_happy="no"])
+    ORTE_CHECK_ALPS([ras_alps], [ras_alps_happy="yes"], [ras_alps_happy="no"])
+
+    # check for alps/apInfo.h
+    # save current CPPFLAGS
+    MCA_orte_ras_save_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS"
+
+    # add flags obtained from ORTE_CHECK_ALPS
+    CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS $ras_alps_CPPFLAGS"
+
+    AC_CHECK_HEADERS([alps/apInfo.h], [], [ras_alps_happy="no"])
+
+    # restore CPPFLAGS
+    CPPFLAGS="$MCA_orte_ras_save_CPPFLAGS"
+
+    AC_SUBST([ras_alps_CPPFLAGS])
 
     AS_IF([test "$ras_alps_happy" = "yes" -a "$orte_without_full_support" = 0], [$1], [$2])
 ])dnl