diff --git a/hypertrace-gradle-docker-java-application-plugin/src/main/resources/application-start-script.template.sh b/hypertrace-gradle-docker-java-application-plugin/src/main/resources/application-start-script.template.sh
index de40807..4d8c2f2 100644
--- a/hypertrace-gradle-docker-java-application-plugin/src/main/resources/application-start-script.template.sh
+++ b/hypertrace-gradle-docker-java-application-plugin/src/main/resources/application-start-script.template.sh
@@ -23,10 +23,9 @@
 
 set -e
 
-CLASSPATH="/app/resources:/app/classes:/app/localLibs/*:/app/orgLibs/*:/app/externalLibs/*"
-if [ "\$FIPS_ENABLED" = "true" ]; then
-  CLASSPATH="/usr/share/java/bc-fips/*:\${CLASSPATH}"
-  echo "Adding the additional FIPS libs to the classpath"
-fi
-
+# Remove trailing colon if present
+FIPS_CLASSPATH="\${FIPS_CLASSPATH%:}"
+# If FIPS_CLASSPATH is not empty, prepend it to classpath with colon as delim
+CLASSPATH="\${FIPS_CLASSPATH:+\${FIPS_CLASSPATH}:}/app/resources:/app/classes:/app/localLibs/*:/app/orgLibs/*:/app/externalLibs/*"
+echo "Using the classpath \$CLASSPATH"
 exec java ${defaultJvmOpts.substring(1, defaultJvmOpts.length()-1)} \$JAVA_OPTS \$FIPS_JAVA_OPTS -classpath \${CLASSPATH} ${mainClassName} \$@