diff --git a/elements/network-utils/element-deps b/elements/network-utils/element-deps
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..64796f72c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/network-utils/element-deps
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+openvswitch
diff --git a/elements/network-utils/install.d/70-network-utils b/elements/network-utils/install.d/70-network-utils
index ac6e3b511..d703540ff 100755
--- a/elements/network-utils/install.d/70-network-utils
+++ b/elements/network-utils/install.d/70-network-utils
@@ -1,24 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -eux
 
-install-packages openvswitch-switch python-netaddr
-
-if [ "$DIB_INIT_SYSTEM" == "systemd" ] ; then
-    os-svc-enable -n openvswitch-switch
-fi
-
-if [ "$DIB_INIT_SYSTEM" == "upstart" ] ; then
-    echo "start on starting cloud-init-nonet" >> /etc/init/openvswitch-switch.override
-    if [ ! -f /etc/init/openvswitch-switch.conf ] ; then
-        cat << 'EOF' > /etc/init/openvswitch-switch.conf
-# openvswitch-switch
-# the purpose of this job is
-#  * start openvwitch-switch in upstart rather than SysV startup
-pre-start script
-      export RUNLEVEL=2
-      /etc/init.d/openvswitch-switch start
-end script
-post-stop exec /etc/init.d/openvswitch-switch stop
-EOF
-    fi
-fi
+install-packages python-netaddr
diff --git a/elements/neutron/element-deps b/elements/neutron/element-deps
index 03eabbd71..1777d90bf 100644
--- a/elements/neutron/element-deps
+++ b/elements/neutron/element-deps
@@ -3,5 +3,6 @@ os-apply-config
 os-is-bootstrap-host
 os-refresh-config
 os-svc-install
+openvswitch-datapath
 selinux
 source-repositories
diff --git a/elements/neutron/install.d/neutron-source-install/76-neutron b/elements/neutron/install.d/neutron-source-install/76-neutron
index ba3fe4a2b..88e2b784d 100755
--- a/elements/neutron/install.d/neutron-source-install/76-neutron
+++ b/elements/neutron/install.d/neutron-source-install/76-neutron
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -eux
 
-install-packages openvswitch-switch openvswitch-datapath-dkms
-
 # for BUG: https://bugs.launchpad.net/neutron/+bug/1225232
 echo "qpid-python" | tee -a /opt/stack/neutron/requirements.txt
 
@@ -21,8 +19,4 @@ echo "Defaults:neutron !requiretty" >> /etc/sudoers.d/neutron
 chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/neutron
 visudo -c
 
-if [ "$DIB_INIT_SYSTEM" == "systemd" ]; then
-    os-svc-enable -n openvswitch-switch
-fi
-
 add-selinux-path-substitution /usr/bin $NEUTRON_VENV_DIR/bin