diff --git a/.github/workflows/scheduled.yaml b/.github/workflows/scheduled.yaml
index b752a49b1c..e5174e1bd7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scheduled.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/scheduled.yaml
@@ -5,14 +5,20 @@ on:
   schedule:
     - cron: '45 3 * * 0'
   workflow_dispatch:
+  # Section to be removed before action is merged
+  #  note: branch below needs to point to main instead of new-verdepcheck-strategy
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - verdepcheck_action
+  # end of section to be removed
 
 jobs:
   dependency-test:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        test-strategy: ["min", "release", "max"]
-    uses: insightsengineering/r.pkg.template/.github/workflows/verdepcheck.yaml@main
+        test-strategy: ["min_cohort", "min_isolated", "release", "max"]
+    uses: insightsengineering/r.pkg.template/.github/workflows/verdepcheck.yaml@new-verdepcheck-strategy
     name: Dependency Test - ${{ matrix.test-strategy }} 🔢
     secrets:
       REPO_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.REPO_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 745769a6f6..895c0ce696 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -35,11 +35,11 @@ Depends:
     teal.slice (>= 0.4.0),
     teal.transform (>= 0.4.0)
 Imports:
-    checkmate,
-    lifecycle,
+    checkmate (>= 2.1.0),
+    lifecycle (>= 0.2.0),
     logger (>= 0.2.0),
-    magrittr,
-    rlang,
+    magrittr (>= 1.5),
+    rlang (>= 1.0.0),
     shinyjs,
     stats,
     teal.logger (>= 0.1.1),
@@ -49,20 +49,46 @@ Imports:
 Suggests:
     bslib,
     covr,
-    dplyr,
-    knitr,
+    dplyr (>= 1.0.5),
+    knitr (>= 1.34),
     MultiAssayExperiment,
     R6,
-    rmarkdown,
+    rmarkdown (>= 2.19),
     shinyvalidate,
     teal.code (>= 0.3.0.9009),
     testthat (>= 3.1.5),
-    withr,
-    yaml
+    withr (>= 2.1.0),
+    yaml (>= 1.1.0)
 VignetteBuilder:
     knitr
 RdMacros:
     lifecycle
+Config/Needs/verdepcheck:
+    rstudio/shiny,
+    insightsengineering/teal.data,
+    insightsengineering/teal.slice,
+    insightsengineering/teal.transform,
+    mllg/checkmate,
+    r-lib/lifecycle,
+    daroczig/logger,
+    tidyverse/magrittr,
+    r-lib/rlang,
+    daattali/shinyjs,
+    insightsengineering/teal.logger,
+    insightsengineering/teal.reporter,
+    insightsengineering/teal.widgets,
+    rstudio/bslib,
+    r-lib/covr,
+    tidyverse/dplyr,
+    yihui/knitr,
+    bioc::MultiAssayExperiment,
+    r-lib/R6,
+    rstudio/rmarkdown,
+    rstudio/shinyvalidate,
+    insightsengineering/teal.code,
+    r-lib/testthat,
+    r-lib/withr,
+    yaml=vubiostat/r-yaml
 Config/Needs/website: insightsengineering/nesttemplate
 Encoding: UTF-8
 Language: en-US
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 6eed778e73..23ab15d961 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 * Enhanced a `module` validation checks so that it won't throw messages about `data` argument unnecessarily.
 * Removed `Report previewer` module from mapping matrix display in filter manager.
+* Specify minimal version of dependent packages.
 
 # teal 0.14.0