diff --git a/spring-cloud-contract-tools/spring-cloud-contract-gradle-plugin/build.gradle b/spring-cloud-contract-tools/spring-cloud-contract-gradle-plugin/build.gradle
index b46be2834d..744435abf0 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-contract-tools/spring-cloud-contract-gradle-plugin/build.gradle
+++ b/spring-cloud-contract-tools/spring-cloud-contract-gradle-plugin/build.gradle
@@ -25,9 +25,7 @@ ext {
 	repoUser = System.getenv('REPO_USERNAME') ?: project.findProperty('REPO_USERNAME') ?: ''
 	repoPass = System.getenv('REPO_PASSWORD') ?: project.findProperty('REPO_PASSWORD') ?: ''
 
-	contractVerifierGradlePluginLibsDir = "$buildDir/contractVerifier-gradle-plugin-libs"
 	testSystemProperties = [
-			'contract-gradle-plugin-libs-dir': contractVerifierGradlePluginLibsDir,
 			"WORK_OFFLINE"                   : gradle.startParameter.isOffline() ? 'TRUE' : 'FALSE'
 	]
 	JavaVersion javaVer = JavaVersion.current()
@@ -38,6 +36,7 @@ ext {
 
 project.version = findProperty('verifierVersion')
 apply plugin: 'groovy'
+apply plugin: "java-gradle-plugin"
 apply from: "$rootDir/gradle/release.gradle"
 apply plugin: 'eclipse'
 //apply plugin: "jacoco"
@@ -65,8 +64,6 @@ task allInsight(type: DependencyInsightReportTask) {}
 configurations {
 	// fixing the groovydoc issue https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20618857/gradle-task-groovydoc-failing-with-noclassdeffounderror
 	jansi.extendsFrom(runtime)
-
-	contractVerifierGradlePluginLibs
 }
 
 dependencies {
@@ -89,7 +86,6 @@ dependencies {
 	testCompile 'info.solidsoft.spock:spock-global-unroll:0.5.0'
 	testCompile gradleTestKit()
 	checkstyle "org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-build:${springCloudBuildVersion}"
-
 }
 
 task libtest() {
@@ -121,19 +117,9 @@ groovydoc {
 }
 
 dependencies {
-	contractVerifierGradlePluginLibs project
 	jansi 'org.fusesource.jansi:jansi:1.11'
 }
 
-task archiveContractVerifierGradlePluginLibsDependencies(type: Sync) {
-	enabled = !incompatibleJdk
-	from configurations.contractVerifierGradlePluginLibs.resolvedConfiguration.resolvedArtifacts.collect { it.file }
-	into contractVerifierGradlePluginLibsDir
-}
-
-archiveContractVerifierGradlePluginLibsDependencies.dependsOn project.tasks.jar
-test.dependsOn archiveContractVerifierGradlePluginLibsDependencies
-
 /*jacoco {
 	toolVersion = "0.7.7.201606060606"
 }
diff --git a/spring-cloud-contract-tools/spring-cloud-contract-gradle-plugin/src/test/groovy/org/springframework/cloud/contract/verifier/plugin/ContractVerifierIntegrationSpec.groovy b/spring-cloud-contract-tools/spring-cloud-contract-gradle-plugin/src/test/groovy/org/springframework/cloud/contract/verifier/plugin/ContractVerifierIntegrationSpec.groovy
index 605866a2db..37ed54e8a0 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-contract-tools/spring-cloud-contract-gradle-plugin/src/test/groovy/org/springframework/cloud/contract/verifier/plugin/ContractVerifierIntegrationSpec.groovy
+++ b/spring-cloud-contract-tools/spring-cloud-contract-gradle-plugin/src/test/groovy/org/springframework/cloud/contract/verifier/plugin/ContractVerifierIntegrationSpec.groovy
@@ -51,14 +51,15 @@ abstract class ContractVerifierIntegrationSpec extends Specification {
 
 	protected void setupForProject(String projectRoot) {
 		copyResourcesToRoot(projectRoot)
-		String gradlePluginSysProp = System.getProperty("contract-gradle-plugin-libs-dir")
-		String gradlePluginLibsDir = (gradlePluginSysProp ?: new File("build/").absolutePath.toString()).replace('\\', '\\\\')
+		Properties pluginClasspathProperties = new Properties()
+		pluginClasspathProperties.load(this.class.getResourceAsStream("/plugin-under-test-metadata.properties"))
+		List<String> classpath = pluginClasspathProperties.getProperty("implementation-classpath").split(";").collect { it.replaceAll("\\\\", "/") }
 
 		initFile.write """
 			allprojects {
 				buildscript {
 					dependencies {
-						classpath fileTree(dir: '$gradlePluginLibsDir', include: '*.jar')
+						classpath(files(\"${classpath.join("\",\"")}\"))
 					}
 				}
 			}