diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/qperf/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/qperf/package.py
index 909e638ee3..9f66e4fc10 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/qperf/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/qperf/package.py
@@ -18,11 +18,15 @@ class Qperf(AutotoolsPackage):
     version("0.4.11", sha256="b0ef2ffe050607566d06102b4ef6268aad08fdc52898620d429096e7b0767e75")
     version("0.4.10", sha256="94e26725b4f962eacca36d8ef48cd1fb5043721ac82c3f44018319e47a96cf6b")
 
+    variant("verbs", default=True, description="Build with verbs support")
+
     depends_on("autoconf", type="build")
     depends_on("automake", type="build")
     depends_on("libtool", type="build")
     depends_on("m4", type="build")
 
+    depends_on("rdma-core", when="+verbs")
+
     def autoreconf(self, spec, prefix):
         sh = which("sh")
         sh("autogen.sh")