diff --git a/CI/hortense_EESSI_ss/ci_config.sh b/CI/hortense_EESSI_ss/ci_config.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ac35ffef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CI/hortense_EESSI_ss/ci_config.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Configurable items
+if [ -z "${REFRAME_ARGS}" ]; then
+    REFRAME_ARGS="--tag CI --tag 1_node|2_nodes --system hortense:cpu_rome_256gb"
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${UNSET_MODULEPATH}" ]; then
+    export UNSET_MODULEPATH=False
+    module --force purge
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${USE_EESSI_SOFTWARE_STACK}" ]; then
+    export USE_EESSI_SOFTWARE_STACK=True
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${RFM_CONFIG_FILES}" ]; then
+    export RFM_CONFIG_FILES="/dodrio/scratch/users/vsc46128/vsc_hortense.py"
+fi
diff --git a/CI/hortense_local_ss/ci_config.sh b/CI/hortense_local_ss/ci_config.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..569bc486
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CI/hortense_local_ss/ci_config.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# Configurable items
+if [ -z "${REFRAME_ARGS}" ]; then
+    REFRAME_ARGS="--tag CI --tag 1_node|2_nodes --system hortense:cpu_rome_256gb"
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${UNSET_MODULEPATH}" ]; then
+    export UNSET_MODULEPATH=False
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${USE_EESSI_SOFTWARE_STACK}" ]; then
+    export USE_EESSI_SOFTWARE_STACK=False
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${RFM_CONFIG_FILES}" ]; then
+    export RFM_CONFIG_FILES="/dodrio/scratch/users/vsc46128/vsc_hortense.py"
+fi
diff --git a/CI/run_reframe.sh b/CI/run_reframe.sh
index eda506f0..77937f4f 100755
--- a/CI/run_reframe.sh
+++ b/CI/run_reframe.sh
@@ -50,11 +50,14 @@ fi
 if [ -z "${EESSI_TESTSUITE_BRANCH}" ]; then
     EESSI_TESTSUITE_BRANCH='v0.4.0'
 fi
-if [ -z "${EESSI_CVMFS_REPO}" ]; then
-    export EESSI_CVMFS_REPO=/cvmfs/software.eessi.io
-fi
-if [ -z "${EESSI_VERSION}" ]; then
-    export EESSI_VERSION=2023.06
+if [ -z "${USE_EESSI_SOFTWARE_STACK}" ] | [ $USE_EESSI_SOFTWARE_STACK == "True" ]; then
+    export USE_EESSI_SOFTWARE_STACK=True
+    if [ -z "${EESSI_CVMFS_REPO}" ]; then
+        export EESSI_CVMFS_REPO=/cvmfs/software.eessi.io
+    fi
+    if [ -z "${EESSI_VERSION}" ]; then
+        export EESSI_VERSION=2023.06
+    fi
 fi
 if [ -z "${RFM_CONFIG_FILES}" ]; then
     export RFM_CONFIG_FILES="${TEMPDIR}/test-suite/config/${EESSI_CI_SYSTEM_NAME}.py"
@@ -73,6 +76,9 @@ if [ -z "${REFRAME_TIMEOUT}" ]; then
     # This will prevent multiple ReFrame runs from piling up and exceeding the quota on our Magic Castle clusters
     export REFRAME_TIMEOUT=1430m
 fi
+if [ -z "${UNSET_MODULEPATH}" ]; then
+    export UNSET_MODULEPATH=True
+fi
 
 # Create virtualenv for ReFrame using system python
 python3 -m venv "${TEMPDIR}"/reframe_venv
@@ -93,9 +99,13 @@ git clone ${EESSI_CLONE_ARGS}
 export PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}":"${TEMPDIR}"/test-suite/
 
 # Start the EESSI environment
-unset MODULEPATH
-eessi_init_path="${EESSI_CVMFS_REPO}"/versions/"${EESSI_VERSION}"/init/bash
-source "${eessi_init_path}"
+if [ $UNSET_MODULEPATH == "True" ]; then
+    unset MODULEPATH
+fi
+if [ $USE_EESSI_SOFTWARE_STACK == "True" ]; then
+    eessi_init_path="${EESSI_CVMFS_REPO}"/versions/"${EESSI_VERSION}"/init/bash
+    source "${eessi_init_path}"
+fi
 
 # Needed in order to make sure the reframe from our TEMPDIR is first on the PATH,
 # prior to the one shipped with the 2021.12 compat layer
diff --git a/config/vsc_hortense.py b/config/vsc_hortense.py
index 1783e95e..3ad2c674 100644
--- a/config/vsc_hortense.py
+++ b/config/vsc_hortense.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # https://docs.vscentrum.be/en/latest/gent/tier1_hortense.html
 #
 # authors: Samuel Moors (VUB-HPC), Kenneth Hoste (HPC-UGent)
+import os
 
 from reframe.core.backends import register_launcher
 from reframe.core.launchers import JobLauncher
@@ -21,6 +22,16 @@ def command(self, job):
         return ['mympirun', '--hybrid', str(job.num_tasks_per_node)]
 
 
+eessi_cvmfs_repo = os.getenv('EESSI_CVMFS_REPO', None)
+if eessi_cvmfs_repo is not None:
+    prepare_eessi_init = 'module --force purge'
+    launcher = 'mpirun'
+    mpi_module = ''
+else:
+    prepare_eessi_init = ''
+    launcher = 'mympirun'
+    mpi_module = 'vsc-mympirun'
+
 site_configuration = {
     'systems': [
         {
@@ -32,13 +43,13 @@ def command(self, job):
                 {
                     'name': 'cpu_rome_256gb',
                     'scheduler': 'slurm',
-                    'prepare_cmds': [common_eessi_init()],
+                    'prepare_cmds': [prepare_eessi_init, common_eessi_init()],
                     'access': hortense_access + ['--partition=cpu_rome'],
                     'environs': ['default'],
                     'descr': 'CPU nodes (AMD Rome, 256GiB RAM)',
                     'max_jobs': 20,
-                    'launcher': 'mympirun',
-                    'modules': ['vsc-mympirun'],
+                    'launcher': launcher,
+                    'modules': [mpi_module],
                     'processor': {
                         'num_cpus': 128,
                         'num_sockets': 2,
@@ -64,13 +75,13 @@ def command(self, job):
                 {
                     'name': 'cpu_rome_512gb',
                     'scheduler': 'slurm',
-                    'prepare_cmds': [common_eessi_init()],
+                    'prepare_cmds': [prepare_eessi_init, common_eessi_init()],
                     'access': hortense_access + ['--partition=cpu_rome_512'],
                     'environs': ['default'],
                     'descr': 'CPU nodes (AMD Rome, 512GiB RAM)',
                     'max_jobs': 20,
-                    'launcher': 'mympirun',
-                    'modules': ['vsc-mympirun'],
+                    'launcher': launcher,
+                    'modules': [mpi_module],
                     'processor': {
                         'num_cpus': 128,
                         'num_sockets': 2,
@@ -96,13 +107,13 @@ def command(self, job):
                 {
                     'name': 'cpu_milan',
                     'scheduler': 'slurm',
-                    'prepare_cmds': [common_eessi_init()],
+                    'prepare_cmds': [prepare_eessi_init, common_eessi_init()],
                     'access': hortense_access + ['--partition=cpu_milan'],
                     'environs': ['default'],
                     'descr': 'CPU nodes (AMD Milan, 256GiB RAM)',
                     'max_jobs': 20,
-                    'launcher': 'mympirun',
-                    'modules': ['vsc-mympirun'],
+                    'launcher': launcher,
+                    'modules': [mpi_module],
                     'processor': {
                         'num_cpus': 128,
                         'num_sockets': 2,
@@ -128,13 +139,13 @@ def command(self, job):
                 {
                     'name': 'gpu_rome_a100_40gb',
                     'scheduler': 'slurm',
-                    'prepare_cmds': [common_eessi_init()],
+                    'prepare_cmds': [prepare_eessi_init, common_eessi_init()],
                     'access': hortense_access + ['--partition=gpu_rome_a100_40'],
                     'environs': ['default'],
                     'descr': 'GPU nodes (A100 40GB)',
                     'max_jobs': 20,
-                    'launcher': 'mympirun',
-                    'modules': ['vsc-mympirun'],
+                    'launcher': launcher,
+                    'modules': [mpi_module],
                     'processor': {
                         'num_cpus': 48,
                         'num_sockets': 2,
@@ -172,13 +183,13 @@ def command(self, job):
                 {
                     'name': 'gpu_rome_a100_80gb',
                     'scheduler': 'slurm',
-                    'prepare_cmds': [common_eessi_init()],
+                    'prepare_cmds': [prepare_eessi_init, common_eessi_init()],
                     'access': hortense_access + ['--partition=gpu_rome_a100_80'],
                     'environs': ['default'],
                     'descr': 'GPU nodes (A100 80GB)',
                     'max_jobs': 20,
-                    'launcher': 'mympirun',
-                    'modules': ['vsc-mympirun'],
+                    'launcher': launcher,
+                    'modules': [mpi_module],
                     'processor': {
                         'num_cpus': 48,
                         'num_sockets': 2,