diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 42ad3892..bd7fe7e6 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ option(
 include_directories(include)
 include_directories(src)
 
-add_subdirectory(third_party)
-
 # TODO: Simplify once we can require cmake 3.27 (where CONFIG is default).
 
 # Due to packaging changes we use the combined protobuf/absl packaging if
@@ -35,6 +33,8 @@ else()
   set(ABSL_INCLUDED_WITH_PROTOBUF OFF)
 endif()
 
+add_subdirectory(third_party)
+
 list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake_modules")
 include(BuildUtils)
 
diff --git a/third_party/CMakeLists.txt b/third_party/CMakeLists.txt
index dfb1bc02..7b8d8e60 100644
--- a/third_party/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/third_party/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-if(${ABSL_INCLUDED_WITH_PROTOBUF})
-  # Remove abseil-cpp from the repo when we can require cmake 3.27.
-else()
+if(NOT ${ABSL_INCLUDED_WITH_PROTOBUF})
   set(ABSL_PROPAGATE_CXX_STD ON)
   add_subdirectory(abseil-cpp)
 endif()