diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a61b6119..6a2ad58d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -269,6 +269,7 @@ if(HIOP_USE_GPU)
         "\n* HIOP_USE_HIP"
     )
   endif()
+  set(HIOP_USE_RAJA "ON") #CUDA/HIP requires using RAJA. This dependency will be removed in a future release, after somee necessary implementations.
 endif(HIOP_USE_GPU)
 
 if(HIOP_USE_RAJA)
diff --git a/src/LinAlg/LinAlgFactory.cpp b/src/LinAlg/LinAlgFactory.cpp
index 9e900185..9cd5b0f9 100644
--- a/src/LinAlg/LinAlgFactory.cpp
+++ b/src/LinAlg/LinAlgFactory.cpp
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ hiopMatrixDense* LinearAlgebraFactory::create_matrix_dense(const ExecSpaceInfo&
       return nullptr;
 #endif //HIOP_USE_RAJA
     } else {// for if(hi.exec_backend_ == "RAJA")
-
+      assert(false && "device memory backend not available because HiOp was not built with RAJA");
       if(mem_space_upper == "CUDA") {
 #ifdef HIOP_USE_CUDA
           assert(mem_space_upper == "DEVICE");