diff --git a/src/sparseml/transformers/utils/gptq_utils/vllm_export_helpers.py b/src/sparseml/transformers/utils/gptq_utils/vllm_export_helpers.py
index 440c256a3ac..4a4d3ea51ac 100644
--- a/src/sparseml/transformers/utils/gptq_utils/vllm_export_helpers.py
+++ b/src/sparseml/transformers/utils/gptq_utils/vllm_export_helpers.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 from torch import Tensor
 from transformers import PreTrainedModel, PreTrainedTokenizerBase
 
+from sparseml.pytorch.model_load.helpers import fallback_to_cpu
 from sparseml.transformers.utils.gptq_utils.transformations import (
     GPTQ_EXLLAMA_TRANSFORMATIONS,
 )
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ def export_vllm_compatible_checkpoint(
     tokenizer: Union[PreTrainedTokenizerBase, str, None] = None,
     format: SUPPORTED_FORMAT_TYPES = "exllama",
     save_dir: Union[str, Path, None] = None,
+    device: str = "cuda",
 ):
     """
     A utility function to export a GPTQ quantized model to safetensors,
@@ -61,18 +63,20 @@ def export_vllm_compatible_checkpoint(
     :param format: The format to which the model should be exported.
         Default is "exllama".
     :param save_dir: The directory where the model should be saved.
+    :param device: The device to use for the model. Default is "cuda".
+        if cuda is not available, it will fallback to cpu.
     """
 
     validate_specified_format(format=format)
 
-    model, tokenizer = _create_model_and_tokenizer(model, tokenizer)
+    model, tokenizer = _create_model_and_tokenizer(model=model, tokenizer=tokenizer)
 
     _LOGGER.info(f"Translating state dict to {format} format.")
     translated_state_dict: Dict[str, Any] = translate_state_dict(
         state_dict=model.state_dict(), format=format
     )
 
-    model.config.quantization_config = QuantizationConfig()
+    model.config.quantization_config = _QuantizationConfig()
     _LOGGER.info(f"Added {format} quantization info to model.config")
 
     if save_dir is None:
@@ -151,8 +155,20 @@ def validate_specified_format(format: SUPPORTED_FORMAT_TYPES):
         raise NotImplementedError(f"Exporting to format {format} is not supported yet.")
 
 
-@dataclass
-class QuantizationConfig:
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class _QuantizationConfig:
+    """
+    A dataclass to hold the quantization configuration for the model.
+    This class is specific to GPTQ style quantization, and an instance
+    of this class can be added to the model.config.quantization_config
+    to enable the model to be exported to Exllama format.
+
+    Right now, the defaults are specific to sparseml GPTQ quantization.
+    In future versions we may support more general quantization configurations.
+
+    This class is frozen to prevent modification of the instance after creation.
+    """
+
     bits: int = field(default=4, metadata={"choices": [2, 3, 4, 8]})
     group_size: int = field(default=-1)
     damp_percent: float = field(default=0.01)
@@ -206,10 +222,12 @@ def _translate_state_dict_exllama(state_dict: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[Any, Any]:
 def _create_model_and_tokenizer(
     model: Union[PreTrainedModel, str],
     tokenizer: Union[PreTrainedTokenizerBase, str, None] = None,
+    device: str = "cuda",
 ) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, PreTrainedTokenizerBase]:
     """
     Create/infer model and tokenizer instances from the passed
-    in model and tokenizer.
+    in model and tokenizer. Additionally moves the model to the
+    specified device.
 
     :param model: The model to be exported, can also be
         path to a local model directory or a HuggingFace/SparseZoo stub
@@ -217,6 +235,8 @@ def _create_model_and_tokenizer(
         can also be a HuggingFace/SparseZoo stub, if not passed in,
         it will be inferred from the model. An error will be raised if it
         cannot be inferred.
+    :param device: The device to use for the model. Default is "cuda".
+        if cuda is not available, it will fallback to cpu.
     :return A tuple of (model, tokenizer) instances. If both were
         passed into this function, they are returned as is.
         If tokenizer was not passed in, it is inferred from the
@@ -239,4 +259,7 @@ def _create_model_and_tokenizer(
     if isinstance(model, str):
         model = SparseAutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(model)
 
+    # move model to gpu if avaliable
+    model.to(fallback_to_cpu(device=device))
+
     return model, tokenizer