diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libmongoc/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libmongoc/package.py
index 56c3e0992df..a0455b4ce7e 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libmongoc/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libmongoc/package.py
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ class Libmongoc(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on('automake', type='build', when='@1.8.1')
     depends_on('libtool', type='build', when='@1.8.1')
     depends_on('m4', type='build', when='@1.8.1')
+    depends_on('pkgconfig', type='build')
 
     depends_on('libbson')