diff --git a/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/BUILD b/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/BUILD
index b56e9c143d4..23a12e90d7b 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/BUILD
+++ b/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/BUILD
@@ -1549,6 +1549,7 @@ cc_library(
         ":local_device",
         ":scoped_allocator",
         ":session_options",
+        "@com_google_absl//absl/base",
         "//tensorflow/core:framework",
         "//tensorflow/core:graph",
         "//tensorflow/core:lib",
diff --git a/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/mkl_threadpool_device_test.cc b/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/mkl_threadpool_device_test.cc
index c29752d3c2c..8d64f6e69db 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/mkl_threadpool_device_test.cc
+++ b/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/mkl_threadpool_device_test.cc
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 #ifdef INTEL_MKL
 
 #include "tensorflow/core/common_runtime/threadpool_device.h"
-
 #include "tensorflow/core/lib/core/status_test_util.h"
 #include "tensorflow/core/platform/cpu_info.h"
 #include "tensorflow/core/platform/logging.h"
@@ -37,15 +36,6 @@ TEST(MKLThreadPoolDeviceTest, TestOmpDefaults) {
   EXPECT_EQ(omp_get_max_threads(), (port::NumSchedulableCPUs() + ht - 1) / ht);
 }
 
-TEST(MKLThreadPoolDeviceTest, TestOmpPreSets) {
-  SessionOptions options;
-  setenv("OMP_NUM_THREADS", "314", 1);
-
-  ThreadPoolDevice* tp = new ThreadPoolDevice(
-      options, "/device:CPU:0", Bytes(256), DeviceLocality(), cpu_allocator());
-
-  EXPECT_EQ(omp_get_max_threads(), 314);
-}
 #endif  // defined(_OPENMP) && !defined(ENABLE_MKLDNN_THREADPOOL)
 
 }  // namespace tensorflow
diff --git a/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/threadpool_device.cc b/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/threadpool_device.cc
index 44fa5bf2d3a..02cd53221d4 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/threadpool_device.cc
+++ b/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/threadpool_device.cc
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 ==============================================================================*/
-
 #include "tensorflow/core/common_runtime/threadpool_device.h"
 
+#include "absl/base/call_once.h"
 #include "tensorflow/core/common_runtime/local_device.h"
 #include "tensorflow/core/common_runtime/scoped_allocator.h"
 #include "tensorflow/core/common_runtime/scoped_allocator_mgr.h"
@@ -55,18 +55,14 @@ ThreadPoolDevice::ThreadPoolDevice(const SessionOptions& options,
   if (DisableMKL()) return;
 #ifdef _OPENMP
   const char* user_omp_threads = getenv("OMP_NUM_THREADS");
+  static absl::once_flag omp_setting_flag;
   if (user_omp_threads == nullptr) {
     // OMP_NUM_THREADS controls MKL's intra-op parallelization
     // Default to available physical cores
     const int mkl_intra_op = port::NumSchedulableCPUs();
     const int ht = port::NumHyperthreadsPerCore();
-    omp_set_num_threads((mkl_intra_op + ht - 1) / ht);
-  } else {
-    uint64 user_val = 0;
-    if (strings::safe_strtou64(user_omp_threads, &user_val)) {
-      // Superflous but triggers OpenMP loading
-      omp_set_num_threads(user_val);
-    }
+    absl::call_once(omp_setting_flag, omp_set_num_threads,
+                    (mkl_intra_op + ht - 1) / ht);
   }
 #endif  // _OPENMP
 #endif  // !defined(ENABLE_MKLDNN_THREADPOOL) && defined(INTEL_MKL)