diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index 4934a53a5ba..278dbad0f32 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -555,3 +555,7 @@ export WINDOWS_ENABLE_HYPERV="${WINDOWS_ENABLE_HYPERV:-false}"
 # TLS_CIPHER_SUITES defines cipher suites allowed to be used by kube-apiserver.
 # If this variable is unset or empty, kube-apiserver will allow its default set of cipher suites.
 export TLS_CIPHER_SUITES=""
+
+# CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG defines the cloud-provider value presented to KCM, apiserver,
+# and kubelet
+export CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG="${CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG:-gce}"
diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index 07e23b24faa..5f4c9d63625 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -603,3 +603,7 @@ export WINDOWS_NODE_PROBLEM_DETECTOR_CUSTOM_FLAGS="${WINDOWS_NODE_PROBLEM_DETECT
 # TLS_CIPHER_SUITES defines cipher suites allowed to be used by kube-apiserver.
 # If this variable is unset or empty, kube-apiserver will allow its default set of cipher suites.
 export TLS_CIPHER_SUITES=""
+
+# CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG defines the cloud-provider value presented to KCM, apiserver,
+# and kubelet
+export CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG="${CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG:-gce}"
diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
index 2dcb7e7ee37..33468c1ab3a 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
@@ -2179,7 +2179,7 @@ function start-kube-controller-manager {
   local params=("${CONTROLLER_MANAGER_TEST_LOG_LEVEL:-"--v=2"}" "${CONTROLLER_MANAGER_TEST_ARGS:-}" "${CLOUD_CONFIG_OPT}")
   local config_path='/etc/srv/kubernetes/kube-controller-manager/kubeconfig'
   params+=("--use-service-account-credentials")
-  params+=("--cloud-provider=gce")
+  params+=("--cloud-provider=${CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG:-gce}")
   params+=("--kubeconfig=${config_path}" "--authentication-kubeconfig=${config_path}" "--authorization-kubeconfig=${config_path}")
   params+=("--root-ca-file=${CA_CERT_BUNDLE_PATH}")
   params+=("--service-account-private-key-file=${SERVICEACCOUNT_KEY_PATH}")
diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-kubeapiserver.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-kubeapiserver.sh
index cd328cb691e..de1d223a664 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-kubeapiserver.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-kubeapiserver.sh
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ function start-kube-apiserver {
   # Calculate variables and assemble the command line.
   local params="${API_SERVER_TEST_LOG_LEVEL:-"--v=2"} ${APISERVER_TEST_ARGS:-} ${CLOUD_CONFIG_OPT}"
   params+=" --allow-privileged=true"
-  params+=" --cloud-provider=gce"
+  params+=" --cloud-provider=${CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG:-gce}"
   params+=" --client-ca-file=${CA_CERT_BUNDLE_PATH}"
 
   # params is passed by reference, so no "$"
diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index 8ef5f3c07ca..8529a0a1575 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -730,7 +730,7 @@ function yaml-map-string-string {
 # Returns kubelet flags used on both Linux and Windows nodes.
 function construct-common-kubelet-flags {
   local flags="${KUBELET_TEST_LOG_LEVEL:-"--v=2"} ${KUBELET_TEST_ARGS:-}"
-  flags+=" --cloud-provider=gce"
+  flags+=" --cloud-provider=${CLOUD_PROVIDER_FLAG:-gce}"
   # TODO(mtaufen): ROTATE_CERTIFICATES seems unused; delete it?
   if [[ -n "${ROTATE_CERTIFICATES:-}" ]]; then
     flags+=" --rotate-certificates=true"