diff --git a/org.hl7.fhir.validation/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/validation/IgLoader.java b/org.hl7.fhir.validation/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/validation/IgLoader.java
index e0a1a9edc..9f64cdc62 100644
--- a/org.hl7.fhir.validation/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/validation/IgLoader.java
+++ b/org.hl7.fhir.validation/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/validation/IgLoader.java
@@ -497,10 +497,12 @@ public class IgLoader implements IValidationEngineLoader {
   private Map<String, ByteProvider> fetchByPackage(String src, boolean loadInContext) throws FHIRException, IOException {
     NpmPackage pi;
     
-    InputStream stream = directProvider.fetchByPackage(src);
-    if (stream != null) {
-      pi = NpmPackage.fromPackage(stream);
-      return loadPackage(pi, loadInContext);
+    if (directProvider != null) {
+      InputStream stream = directProvider.fetchByPackage(src);
+      if (stream != null) {
+        pi = NpmPackage.fromPackage(stream);
+        return loadPackage(pi, loadInContext);
+      }
     }
     String id = src;
     String version = null;