diff --git a/cmake/ExternalBLASLAPACK.cmake b/cmake/ExternalBLASLAPACK.cmake
index 6c190e565..5346734f2 100644
--- a/cmake/ExternalBLASLAPACK.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ExternalBLASLAPACK.cmake
@@ -200,4 +200,4 @@ set(BLAS_LAPACK_LIBRARIES ${_BLAS_LAPACK_LIBRARIES} CACHE STRING
 )
 set(BLAS_LAPACK_INCLUDE_DIRS ${_BLAS_LAPACK_INCLUDE_DIRS} CACHE STRING
   "Path to BLAS/LAPACK include directories"
-)
+)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cmake/ExternalGitTags.cmake b/cmake/ExternalGitTags.cmake
index 99a31e217..eed1f23f5 100644
--- a/cmake/ExternalGitTags.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ExternalGitTags.cmake
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ set(EXTERN_MFEM_GIT_BRANCH
   "Git branch for external MFEM build"
 )
 set(EXTERN_MFEM_GIT_TAG
-  "302be130d10f3ac3ecb2d68cedb85c74d405fbf3" CACHE STRING
+  "7c1a0eb5e3f70ff9d161c9d6e3f228ba2513acca" CACHE STRING
   "Git tag for external MFEM build"
 )
 
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ set(EXTERN_PETSC_GIT_BRANCH
   "Git branch for external PETSc build"
 )
 set(EXTERN_PETSC_GIT_TAG
-  "72c1e49ee3d896ae53f9f914a80b983ec63c03c7" CACHE STRING
+  "2ad7182b1093845a8c26c56c2f6611a55c3328ce" CACHE STRING
   "Git tag for external PETSc build"
 )
 
diff --git a/cmake/ExternalSLEPc.cmake b/cmake/ExternalSLEPc.cmake
index eb37812af..f09aac31e 100644
--- a/cmake/ExternalSLEPc.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ExternalSLEPc.cmake
@@ -95,12 +95,6 @@ endif()
 string(REPLACE ";" "; " PETSC_OPTIONS_PRINT "${PETSC_OPTIONS}")
 message(STATUS "PETSC_OPTIONS: ${PETSC_OPTIONS_PRINT}")
 
-
-# A number of patches to MFEM for our use cases
-set(PETSC_PATCH_FILES
-  "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/extern/patch/PETSc/patch_install.diff"
-)
-
 include(ExternalProject)
 ExternalProject_Add(petsc
   DEPENDS             ${PETSC_DEPENDENCIES}
@@ -112,7 +106,6 @@ ExternalProject_Add(petsc
   BUILD_IN_SOURCE     TRUE
   UPDATE_COMMAND      ""
   CONFIGURE_COMMAND   ./configure ${PETSC_OPTIONS}
-  PATCH_COMMAND       git apply "${PETSC_PATCH_FILES}"
   # TEST_COMMAND        ${CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM} check  # Use auto-detected PETSC_DIR/PETSC_ARCH
   TEST_COMMAND        ""
   TEST_BEFORE_INSTALL TRUE
diff --git a/extern/patch/mumps/patch_build.diff b/extern/patch/mumps/patch_build.diff
index 6f9bd940c..7472015bf 100644
--- a/extern/patch/mumps/patch_build.diff
+++ b/extern/patch/mumps/patch_build.diff
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ index 3be37f8..193e8b5 100644
  message(STATUS "MUMPS LAPACK_VENDOR: ${LAPACK_VENDOR}")
 diff --git a/cmake/FindLAPACK.cmake b/cmake/FindLAPACK.cmake
 deleted file mode 100644
-index 8647696..0000000
+index 9b9d1d0..0000000
 --- a/cmake/FindLAPACK.cmake
 +++ /dev/null
-@@ -1,502 +0,0 @@
+@@ -1,501 +0,0 @@
 -# Distributed under the OSI-approved BSD 3-Clause License.  See accompanying
 -# file Copyright.txt or https://cmake.org/licensing for details.
 -
@@ -392,12 +392,11 @@ index 8647696..0000000
 -
 -# ========== main program
 -
--set(lapack_cray false)
--if(DEFINED ENV{CRAYPE_VERSION})
--  set(lapack_cray true)
+-if(NOT DEFINED LAPACK_CRAY AND DEFINED ENV{CRAYPE_VERSION})
+-  set(LAPACK_CRAY true)
 -endif()
 -
--if(NOT (lapack_cray
+-if(NOT (LAPACK_CRAY
 -  OR OpenBLAS IN_LIST LAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS
 -  OR Netlib IN_LIST LAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS
 -  OR Atlas IN_LIST LAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS
@@ -428,7 +427,7 @@ index 8647696..0000000
 -  openblas_libs()
 -elseif(AOCL IN_LIST LAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS)
 -  aocl_libs()
--elseif(lapack_cray)
+-elseif(LAPACK_CRAY)
 -  # LAPACK is implicitly part of Cray PE LibSci, use Cray compiler wrapper.
 -endif()
 -
@@ -483,14 +482,14 @@ index 8647696..0000000
 -endfunction(lapack_check)
 -
 -# --- Check library links
--if(lapack_cray OR LAPACK_LIBRARY)
+-if(LAPACK_CRAY OR LAPACK_LIBRARY)
 -  lapack_check()
 -endif()
 -
 -
 -include(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)
 -
--if(lapack_cray)
+-if(LAPACK_CRAY)
 -  find_package_handle_standard_args(LAPACK HANDLE_COMPONENTS
 -  REQUIRED_VARS LAPACK_links
 -  )
@@ -539,7 +538,7 @@ index 8647696..0000000
 -
 -mark_as_advanced(LAPACK_LIBRARY LAPACK_INCLUDE_DIR)
 diff --git a/cmake/FindSCALAPACK.cmake b/cmake/FindSCALAPACK.cmake
-index 9b2e056..166d05f 100644
+index e66930a..5fa9d78 100644
 --- a/cmake/FindSCALAPACK.cmake
 +++ b/cmake/FindSCALAPACK.cmake
 @@ -52,8 +52,6 @@ References
@@ -565,64 +564,7 @@ index 9b2e056..166d05f 100644
  list(APPEND CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES ${LAPACK_LIBRARIES} ${MPI_Fortran_LIBRARIES} ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
  
  if(STATIC IN_LIST SCALAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS AND
-@@ -188,40 +183,9 @@ endfunction(scalapack_lib)
- 
- # === main
- 
--set(scalapack_cray false)
--if(DEFINED ENV{CRAYPE_VERSION})
--  set(scalapack_cray true)
--endif()
--
--if(NOT scalapack_cray)
--  if(NOT MKL IN_LIST SCALAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS AND DEFINED ENV{MKLROOT} AND IS_DIRECTORY "$ENV{MKLROOT}")
--    list(APPEND SCALAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS MKL)
--  endif()
--endif()
--
--if(STATIC IN_LIST SCALAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS)
--  set(_orig_suff ${CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES})
--  set(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES ${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX})
--endif()
--
--if(MKL IN_LIST SCALAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS OR MKL64 IN_LIST SCALAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS)
--  scalapack_mkl()
--elseif(scalapack_cray)
--  # Cray PE has Scalapack build into LibSci. Use Cray compiler wrapper.
--else()
--  scalapack_lib()
--endif()
--
--if(STATIC IN_LIST SCALAPACK_FIND_COMPONENTS)
--  if(SCALAPACK_LIBRARY)
--    set(SCALAPACK_STATIC_FOUND true)
--  endif()
--  set(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES ${_orig_suff})
--endif()
--
- # --- Check that Scalapack links
- 
--if(scalapack_cray OR SCALAPACK_LIBRARY)
-+if(SCALAPACK_LIBRARIES)
-   scalapack_check()
- endif()
- 
-@@ -229,32 +193,19 @@ endif()
- 
- include(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)
- 
--if(scalapack_cray)
--  find_package_handle_standard_args(SCALAPACK HANDLE_COMPONENTS
--  REQUIRED_VARS SCALAPACK_links
--  )
--else()
--  find_package_handle_standard_args(SCALAPACK HANDLE_COMPONENTS
--  REQUIRED_VARS SCALAPACK_LIBRARY SCALAPACK_links
--  )
--endif()
-+find_package_handle_standard_args(SCALAPACK HANDLE_COMPONENTS
-+REQUIRED_VARS SCALAPACK_LIBRARIES SCALAPACK_links
-+)
+@@ -240,20 +235,13 @@ endif()
  
  if(SCALAPACK_FOUND)
    # need if _FOUND guard as can't overwrite imported target even if bad
@@ -644,7 +586,7 @@ index 9b2e056..166d05f 100644
  
      # For MKL, we don't use FindLapack, so define LAPACK::LAPACK as alias
      if(MKL_FOUND AND NOT TARGET LAPACK::LAPACK)
-@@ -262,5 +213,3 @@ Scalapack include directories: ${SCALAPACK_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
+@@ -261,5 +249,3 @@ Scalapack include directories: ${SCALAPACK_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
      endif()
    endif()
  endif()
diff --git a/singularity/singularity.def b/singularity/singularity.def
index ae4955a5b..509f276b9 100644
--- a/singularity/singularity.def
+++ b/singularity/singularity.def
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ From: rockylinux:9
                    pkg-config python3 wget zlib
 
     # Install CMake (STRUMPACK requires >= 3.21)
-    CMAKE_VERSION=3.26.5
+    CMAKE_VERSION=3.31.0
     wget https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v$CMAKE_VERSION/cmake-$CMAKE_VERSION-linux-$(uname -m).sh
     /bin/bash cmake-$CMAKE_VERSION-* --skip-license --prefix=/usr
     rm -rf cmake-*