I think you're looking for something like:
<dependencyManagement>
<dependencies>
...
<dependency>
<groupId>someGroupId</groupId>
<artifactId>someArtifactId</artifactId>
<version>someVersion</version>
<type>pom</type>
<scope>import</scope>
</dependency>
...
</dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>
You could define this e.g. in your parent POM.