diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 23092f8a96..dab5ef6482 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -36,6 +36,42 @@ add_definitions(-DUSE_COND)
 add_definitions(-DNEW_TAUCTMAX)
 add_definitions(-DINTERNAL_FILE_NML)
 
+if(CCPP)
+
+    find_package(Python 3 QUIET COMPONENTS Interpreter)
+    if (NOT Python_Interpreter_FOUND)
+      find_package(Python 2.7 QUIET REQUIRED COMPONENTS Interpreter)
+    endif()
+    message("Found Python: ${Python_EXECUTABLE}")
+
+    if(NOT DEFINED CCPP_SUITES)
+      set(CCPP_SUITES "FV3_GFS_2017_gfdlmp")
+    endif()
+    message("Configuring CCPP for SUITES = ${CCPP_SUITES}")
+
+    execute_process(COMMAND FV3/ccpp/framework/scripts/ccpp_prebuild.py
+                            "--config=FV3/ccpp/config/ccpp_prebuild_config.py"
+                            "--suites=${CCPP_SUITES}"
+                            "--builddir=${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/FV3"
+                    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
+                    OUTPUT_FILE ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/ccpp_prebuild.out
+                    ERROR_FILE ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/ccpp_prebuild.err
+                   )
+
+    # this should not be necessary; including CCPP_*.cmake here and passing
+    # SCHEMES, CAPS and TYPEDEFS via environment variables to CCPP build.
+    # CCPP should be able to directly include those three .cmake files.
+
+    include(${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_SCHEMES.cmake)
+    include(${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_CAPS.cmake)
+    include(${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_TYPEDEFS.cmake)
+
+    set(ENV{CCPP_SCHEMES} "${SCHEMES}")
+    set(ENV{CCPP_CAPS} "${CAPS}")
+    set(ENV{CCPP_TYPEDEFS} "${TYPEDEFS}")
+
+endif()
+
 ###############################################################################
 ### FMS
 ###############################################################################
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index ad6d89a9e9..85e9547815 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -23,16 +23,6 @@ rm -rf ${BUILD_DIR}
 mkdir ${BUILD_DIR}
 
 CCPP_SUITES="${CCPP_SUITES:-FV3_GFS_2017_gfdlmp}"
-
-./FV3/ccpp/framework/scripts/ccpp_prebuild.py \
-    --config=FV3/ccpp/config/ccpp_prebuild_config.py \
-    --suites=${CCPP_SUITES} \
-    --builddir=${BUILD_DIR}/FV3 > ${BUILD_DIR}/ccpp_prebuild.log 2>&1
-
-source ${BUILD_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_SCHEMES.sh
-source ${BUILD_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_CAPS.sh
-source ${BUILD_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_STATIC_API.sh
-
 CMAKE_FLAGS+=" -DCCPP=ON -DSUITES=${CCPP_SUITES} -DNETCDF_DIR=${NETCDF}"
 
 cd ${BUILD_DIR}
diff --git a/modulefiles/wcoss_dell_p3/fv3 b/modulefiles/wcoss_dell_p3/fv3
index 6ae8adc4e3..74a57b00a6 100644
--- a/modulefiles/wcoss_dell_p3/fv3
+++ b/modulefiles/wcoss_dell_p3/fv3
@@ -18,8 +18,9 @@ module-whatis "loads NEMS FV3 prerequisites on Venus and Mars"
 module load ips/18.0.1.163
 module load impi/18.0.1
 module load lsf/10.1
-module load cmake/3.10.0
-module load lsf/10.1
+module load cmake/3.16.2
+# module load python/3.6.3
+module load python/2.7.14
 
 module use -a /usrx/local/nceplibs/dev/NCEPLIBS/modulefiles
 
@@ -44,13 +45,12 @@ module load post/8.0.6
 
 module use /gpfs/dell2/emc/modeling/noscrub/emc.nemspara/soft/modulefiles
 module load hdf5_parallel/1.10.6
-module load netcdf_parallel/4.7.4  
+module load netcdf_parallel/4.7.4
 module load esmf/8.0.0_ParallelNetCDF
 
 ##
 ## load cmake
 ##
-module load cmake/3.10.0
 setenv CMAKE_C_COMPILER mpiicc
 setenv CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER mpiicpc
 setenv CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER mpiifort
diff --git a/tests/compile_cmake.sh b/tests/compile_cmake.sh
index a9be59f378..751646c4c6 100755
--- a/tests/compile_cmake.sh
+++ b/tests/compile_cmake.sh
@@ -114,38 +114,30 @@ if [[ "${MAKE_OPT}" == *"CCPP=Y"* ]]; then
     CCPP_CMAKE_FLAGS="${CCPP_CMAKE_FLAGS} -DMULTI_GASES=OFF"
   fi
 
-  (
-    # Check if suites argument is provided or not
-    set +ex
-    TEST=$( echo $MAKE_OPT | grep -e "SUITES=" )
-    if [[ $? -eq 1 ]]; then
-      echo "No suites argument provided, compiling all available suites ..."
-      # Loop through all available suite definition files and extract suite names
-      SDFS=(../FV3/ccpp/suites/*.xml)
-      SUITES=""
-      for sdf in ${SDFS[@]}; do
-        suite=${sdf#"../FV3/ccpp/suites/suite_"}
-        suite=${suite%".xml"}
-        SUITES="${SUITES},${suite}"
-      done
-      # Remove leading comma
-      SUITES=${SUITES#","}
-    else
-      SUITES=$( echo $MAKE_OPT | sed 's/.* SUITES=//' | sed 's/ .*//' )
-    fi
-    echo "Compiling suites ${SUITES}"
-    set -ex
-    cd ${PATHTR}
-    ./FV3/ccpp/framework/scripts/ccpp_prebuild.py --config=FV3/ccpp/config/ccpp_prebuild_config.py --suites=${SUITES} --builddir=tests/${BUILD_DIR}/FV3
-  )
-
-  # Read list of schemes, caps, and static API
-  source ${BUILD_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_TYPEDEFS.sh
-  source ${BUILD_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_SCHEMES.sh
-  source ${BUILD_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_CAPS.sh
-  source ${BUILD_DIR}/FV3/ccpp/physics/CCPP_STATIC_API.sh
-
- fi
+  # Check if suites argument is provided or not
+  set +ex
+  TEST=$( echo $MAKE_OPT | grep -e "SUITES=" )
+  if [[ $? -eq 1 ]]; then
+    echo "No suites argument provided, compiling all available suites ..."
+    # Loop through all available suite definition files and extract suite names
+    SDFS=(../FV3/ccpp/suites/*.xml)
+    SUITES=""
+    for sdf in ${SDFS[@]}; do
+      suite=${sdf#"../FV3/ccpp/suites/suite_"}
+      suite=${suite%".xml"}
+      SUITES="${SUITES},${suite}"
+    done
+    # Remove leading comma
+    SUITES=${SUITES#","}
+  else
+    SUITES=$( echo $MAKE_OPT | sed 's/.* SUITES=//' | sed 's/ .*//' )
+  fi
+  echo "Compiling suites ${SUITES}"
+  set -ex
+
+  CCPP_CMAKE_FLAGS="${CCPP_CMAKE_FLAGS} -DCCPP_SUITES=${SUITES}"
+
+fi
 
 if [[ "${MAKE_OPT}" == *"WW3=Y"* ]]; then
     CCPP_CMAKE_FLAGS="${CCPP_CMAKE_FLAGS} -DWW3=Y"