diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 07aa60e..c82a1b9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ If you want to leave the firmware image, manifest and campaign to your account a
 New manifest-tool 2.0.0 supports two different versions of manifest schemas. Update test's manifest creation defaults to 'v1' manifest version, but you can set the version e.g to 'v3' by the `--manifest_version=v3` startup argument.
 Supported versions at the moment are 'v1' and 'v3'.
 
+If you need to pass in an explicit firmware version, versus using a time-stamp-generated value, use the `--fw_version` option.
 
 ### Results output
 
diff --git a/pelion_test_lib/fixtures/cloud_fixtures.py b/pelion_test_lib/fixtures/cloud_fixtures.py
index 11746d6..f6c4d40 100644
--- a/pelion_test_lib/fixtures/cloud_fixtures.py
+++ b/pelion_test_lib/fixtures/cloud_fixtures.py
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ def update_device(cloud, client, request):
     binary_path = request.config.getoption('update_bin', None)
     manifest_tool_path = request.config.getoption('manifest_tool')
     manifest_version = request.config.getoption('manifest_version', 'v1')
+    fw_version = request.config.getoption('fw_version', None)
     no_cleanup = request.config.getoption('no_cleanup', False)
     delta_manifest = request.config.getoption('delta_manifest', None)
     local_bin = request.config.getoption('local_binary', None)
@@ -144,7 +145,8 @@ def update_device(cloud, client, request):
                                                   firmware_url=fw_image['datafile'],
                                                   update_image_path=binary_path,
                                                   delta_manifest=delta_manifest,
-                                                  manifest_version=manifest_version)
+                                                  manifest_version=manifest_version,
+                                                  fw_version=fw_version)
     assert manifest_file is not None, 'Manifest file was not created'
 
     manifest = cloud.update.upload_firmware_manifest(manifest_file, expected_status_code=201).json()
diff --git a/pelion_test_lib/tools/manifest_tool.py b/pelion_test_lib/tools/manifest_tool.py
index 1198f0e..91626f0 100644
--- a/pelion_test_lib/tools/manifest_tool.py
+++ b/pelion_test_lib/tools/manifest_tool.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def init(working_path, vendor_domain=None, model_name=None):
 
 
 def create_manifest(path, firmware_url, update_image_path, output='output.manifest', delta_manifest=None,
-                    manifest_version='v1'):
+                    manifest_version='v1', fw_version=None):
     """
     Create a manifest file
     :param path: Manifest-tool path
@@ -80,7 +80,11 @@ def create_manifest(path, firmware_url, update_image_path, output='output.manife
     if os.path.isfile(output):
         os.remove(output)
     if manifest_version == 'v1':
-        cmd = [MANIFEST_DEV_TOOL, 'create-v1', '-u', firmware_url, '-o', output]
+        if fw_version  is None:
+            cmd = [MANIFEST_DEV_TOOL, 'create-v1', '-u', firmware_url, '-o', output]
+        else:
+            cmd = [MANIFEST_DEV_TOOL, 'create-v1', '-u', firmware_url, '-o', output, '--fw-version', fw_version]
+
     elif manifest_version == 'v3':
         cmd = [MANIFEST_DEV_TOOL, 'create', '-u', firmware_url, '-o', output, '--sign-image']
     else:
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index fef32d9..86eb724 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser):
     parser.addoption('--local_binary', action='store', help='local linux client binary path')
     parser.addoption('--use_one_apikey', action='store_true', default=False, help='do not create temp api key')
     parser.addoption('--manifest_version', action='store', default='v1', help='manifest template version')
-
+    parser.addoption('--fw_version', action='store', default=None, help='firmware version')
 
 def pytest_report_teststatus(report):
     """