diff --git a/opal/mca/common/ofi/common_ofi.c b/opal/mca/common/ofi/common_ofi.c
index f0da0f4a52c..c922ea218d4 100644
--- a/opal/mca/common/ofi/common_ofi.c
+++ b/opal/mca/common/ofi/common_ofi.c
@@ -623,10 +623,10 @@ static int get_provider_distance(struct fi_info *provider, hwloc_topology_t topo
 /**
  * @brief Get the nearest device to the current thread
  *
- * Use the PMIx server or calculate the device distances, then out of the set of
- * returned distances find the subset of the nearest devices. This can be
- * 0 or more.
- * If there are multiple equidistant devices, break the tie using the rank.
+ * Compute the distances from the current thread to each NIC in provider_list,
+ * and select the NIC with the shortest distance.
+ * If there are multiple equidistant devices, break the tie using local rank
+ * to balance NIC utilization.
  *
  * @param[in]   topoloy          hwloc topology
  * @param[in]   provider_list    List of providers to select from
@@ -724,16 +724,46 @@ static int get_nearest_nic(hwloc_topology_t topology, struct fi_info *provider_l
     return ret;
 }
 
-static struct fi_info *select_provider_round_robin(struct fi_info *provider_list, uint32_t rank,
-                                                   size_t num_providers)
+/**
+ * @brief Selects a provider from the list in a round-robin fashion
+ *
+ * This function implements a round-robin algorithm to select a provider from
+ * the provided list based on a rank. Only providers of the same type as the
+ * first provider are eligible for selection.
+ *
+ * @param[in]   provider_list   A list of providers to select from.
+ * @param[out]  rank            A rank metric for the current process, such as
+ *                              the rank on the same node or CPU package.
+ * @return      Pointer to the selected provider
+ */
+static struct fi_info *select_provider_round_robin(struct fi_info *provider_list, uint32_t rank)
 {
-    uint32_t provider_rank = rank % num_providers;
-    struct fi_info *current_provider = provider_list;
+    uint32_t provider_rank = 0, current_rank = 0;
+    size_t num_providers = 0;
+    struct fi_info *current_provider = NULL;
 
-    for (uint32_t i = 0; i < provider_rank; ++i) {
+    for (current_provider = provider_list; NULL != current_provider;) {
+        if (OPAL_SUCCESS == check_provider_attr(provider_list, current_provider)) {
+            ++num_providers;
+        }
         current_provider = current_provider->next;
     }
 
+    current_provider = provider_list;
+    if (2 > num_providers) {
+        goto out;
+    }
+
+    provider_rank = rank % num_providers;
+
+    while (NULL != current_provider) {
+        if (OPAL_SUCCESS == check_provider_attr(provider_list, current_provider)
+            && provider_rank == current_rank++) {
+            break;
+        }
+        current_provider = current_provider->next;
+    }
+out:
     return current_provider;
 }
 
@@ -850,7 +880,7 @@ struct fi_info *opal_common_ofi_select_provider(struct fi_info *provider_list,
 {
     int ret, num_providers = 0;
     struct fi_info *provider = NULL;
-    uint32_t package_rank = 0;
+    uint32_t package_rank = process_info->my_local_rank;
 
     num_providers = count_providers(provider_list);
     if (!process_info->proc_is_bound || 2 > num_providers) {
@@ -868,6 +898,10 @@ struct fi_info *opal_common_ofi_select_provider(struct fi_info *provider_list,
     package_rank = get_package_rank(process_info);
 
 #if OPAL_OFI_PCI_DATA_AVAILABLE
+    /**
+     * If provider PCI BDF information is available, we calculate its physical distance
+     * to the current process, and select the provider with the shortest distance.
+     */
     ret = get_nearest_nic(opal_hwloc_topology, provider_list, num_providers, package_rank,
                           &provider);
     if (OPAL_SUCCESS == ret) {
@@ -876,7 +910,12 @@ struct fi_info *opal_common_ofi_select_provider(struct fi_info *provider_list,
 #endif /* OPAL_OFI_PCI_DATA_AVAILABLE */
 
 round_robin:
-    provider = select_provider_round_robin(provider_list, package_rank, num_providers);
+    if (!process_info->proc_is_bound && 1 < num_providers
+        && opal_output_get_verbosity(opal_common_ofi.output) >= 1) {
+        opal_show_help("help-common-ofi.txt", "unbound_process", true, 1);
+    }
+
+    provider = select_provider_round_robin(provider_list, package_rank);
 out:
 #if OPAL_ENABLE_DEBUG
     opal_output_verbose(1, opal_common_ofi.output, "package rank: %d device: %s", package_rank,
@@ -950,5 +989,3 @@ OPAL_DECLSPEC int opal_common_ofi_fi_getname(fid_t fid, void **addr, size_t *add
     }
     return ret;
 }
-
-
diff --git a/opal/mca/common/ofi/common_ofi.h b/opal/mca/common/ofi/common_ofi.h
index 10992410019..edc5be8a1fe 100644
--- a/opal/mca/common/ofi/common_ofi.h
+++ b/opal/mca/common/ofi/common_ofi.h
@@ -103,47 +103,47 @@ OPAL_DECLSPEC int opal_common_ofi_is_in_list(char **list, char *item);
 /**
  * Selects NIC (provider) based on hardware locality
  *
- * In multi-nic situations, use hardware topology to pick the "best"
- * of the selected NICs.
- * There are 3 main cases that this covers:
- *
- *      1. If the first provider passed into this function is the only valid
- *      provider, this provider is returned.
- *
- *      2. If there is more than 1 provider that matches the type of the first
- *      provider in the list, and the BDF data
- *      is available then a provider is selected based on locality of device
- *      cpuset and process cpuset and tries to ensure that processes
- *      are distributed evenly across NICs. This has two separate
- *      cases:
- *
- *          i. There is one or more provider local to the process:
- *
- *              (local rank % number of providers of the same type
- *              that share the process cpuset) is used to select one
- *              of these providers.
- *
- *          ii. There is no provider that is local to the process:
- *
- *              (local rank % number of providers of the same type)
- *              is used to select one of these providers
- *
- *      3. If there is more than 1 providers of the same type in the
- *      list, and the BDF data is not available (the ofi version does
- *      not support fi_info.nic or the provider does not support BDF)
- *      then (local rank % number of providers of the same type) is
- *      used to select one of these providers
- *
- * @param provider_list (IN)   struct fi_info* An initially selected
- *                             provider NIC. The provider name and
- *                             attributes are used to restrict NIC
- *                             selection. This provider is returned if the
- *                             NIC selection fails.
- *
- * @param provider (OUT)       struct fi_info* object with the selected
- *                             provider if the selection succeeds
- *                             if the selection fails, returns the fi_info
- *                             object that was initially provided.
+ * The selection is based on the following priority:
+ *
+ * Single-NIC:
+ * 
+ *      If only 1 provider is available, always return that provider.
+ * 
+ * Multi-NIC:
+ * 
+ *      1. If the process is NOT bound, pick a NIC using (local rank % number
+ *      of providers of the same type). This gives a fair chance to each
+ *      qualified NIC and balances overall utilization.
+ *
+ *      2. If the process is bound, we compare providers in the list that have
+ *      the same type as the first provider, and find the provider with the
+ *      shortest distance to the current process. 
+ * 
+ *          i. If the provider has PCI BDF data, we attempt to compute the
+ *          distance between the NIC and the current process cpuset. The NIC
+ *          with the shortest distance is returned.
+ * 
+ *              * For equidistant NICs, we select a NIC in round-robin fashion
+ *              using the package rank of the current process, i.e. (package
+ *              rank % number of providers with the same distance).
+ *
+ *          ii. If we cannot compute the distance between the NIC and the
+ *          current process, e.g. PCI BDF data is not available, a NIC will be
+ *          selected in a round-robin fashion using package rank, i.e. (package
+ *          rank % number of providers of the same type).
+ *
+ * @param[in]   provider_list   struct fi_info* An initially selected
+ *                              provider NIC. The provider name and
+ *                              attributes are used to restrict NIC
+ *                              selection. This provider is returned if the
+ *                              NIC selection fails.
+ * 
+ * @param[in]   process_info    opal_process_info_t* The current process info
+ *
+ * @param[out]  provider        struct fi_info* object with the selected
+ *                              provider if the selection succeeds
+ *                              if the selection fails, returns the fi_info
+ *                              object that was initially provided.
  *
  * All errors should be recoverable and will return the initially provided
  * provider. However, if an error occurs we can no longer guarantee
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ OPAL_DECLSPEC int opal_common_ofi_is_in_list(char **list, char *item);
  *
  */
 OPAL_DECLSPEC struct fi_info *opal_common_ofi_select_provider(struct fi_info *provider_list,
-                                                                  opal_process_info_t *process_info);
+                                                              opal_process_info_t *process_info);
 
 /**
  * Obtain EP endpoint name
diff --git a/opal/mca/common/ofi/help-common-ofi.txt b/opal/mca/common/ofi/help-common-ofi.txt
index 44366a64c5f..de3630f7e7a 100644
--- a/opal/mca/common/ofi/help-common-ofi.txt
+++ b/opal/mca/common/ofi/help-common-ofi.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 #
 # $HEADER$
 #
+[unbound_process]
+Open MPI's OFI driver detected multiple NICs on the system but cannot select an
+optimal device because the current process is not bound. This may negatively
+impact performance. This can be resolved by specifying "--bind-to ..." on
+command line.
+
 [package_rank failed]
 Open MPI's OFI driver detected multiple equidistant NICs from the current process,
 but had insufficient information to ensure MPI processes fairly pick a NIC for use.