diff --git a/dd-java-agent/agent-tooling/agent-tooling.gradle b/dd-java-agent/agent-tooling/agent-tooling.gradle
index 46658ae46e..609bbee3c7 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/agent-tooling/agent-tooling.gradle
+++ b/dd-java-agent/agent-tooling/agent-tooling.gradle
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ dependencies {
 
   testCompile deps.opentracing
   testCompile project(':dd-java-agent:testing')
+  testCompile project(':utils:gc-utils')
 
   instrumentationMuzzle sourceSets.main.output
   instrumentationMuzzle configurations.compile
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/agent-tooling/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/tooling/WeakConcurrentSupplierTest.groovy b/dd-java-agent/agent-tooling/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/tooling/WeakConcurrentSupplierTest.groovy
index 997347ea4e..a883c73fd2 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/agent-tooling/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/tooling/WeakConcurrentSupplierTest.groovy
+++ b/dd-java-agent/agent-tooling/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/tooling/WeakConcurrentSupplierTest.groovy
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 package datadog.trace.agent.tooling
 
-import datadog.trace.agent.test.TestUtils
+
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.WeakMap
+import datadog.trace.util.gc.GCUtils
 import spock.lang.Shared
 import spock.lang.Specification
 
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ class WeakConcurrentSupplierTest extends Specification {
     when:
     def supplierRef = new WeakReference(supplier)
     supplier = null
-    TestUtils.awaitGC(supplierRef)
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(supplierRef)
 
     then:
     ref.get() == null
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ class WeakConcurrentSupplierTest extends Specification {
     when:
     def mapRef = new WeakReference(map)
     map = null
-    TestUtils.awaitGC(mapRef)
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(mapRef)
 
     then:
     ref.get() == null
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ class WeakConcurrentSupplierTest extends Specification {
     setup:
     def key = new Object()
     map.put(key, "value")
-    TestUtils.awaitGC()
+    GCUtils.awaitGC()
 
     expect:
     map.size() == 1
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@ class WeakConcurrentSupplierTest extends Specification {
     when:
     def keyRef = new WeakReference(key)
     key = null
-    TestUtils.awaitGC(keyRef)
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(keyRef)
 
     if (name == "WeakConcurrent") {
       // Sleep enough time for cleanup thread to get scheduled.
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/dd-java-agent.gradle b/dd-java-agent/dd-java-agent.gradle
index cb118eb935..23bce7b0d7 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/dd-java-agent.gradle
+++ b/dd-java-agent/dd-java-agent.gradle
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ modifyPom {
 dependencies {
   testCompile project(':dd-trace-api')
   testCompile project(':dd-trace-ot')
+  testCompile project(':utils:gc-utils')
 
   testCompile deps.opentracingMock
   testCompile deps.testLogging
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/integration/classloading/ClassLoadingTest.groovy b/dd-java-agent/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/integration/classloading/ClassLoadingTest.groovy
index 781248df2e..02cd9a8511 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/integration/classloading/ClassLoadingTest.groovy
+++ b/dd-java-agent/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/integration/classloading/ClassLoadingTest.groovy
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import datadog.test.ClassToInstrument
 import datadog.test.ClassToInstrumentChild
 import datadog.trace.agent.test.IntegrationTestUtils
 import datadog.trace.api.Trace
+import datadog.trace.util.gc.GCUtils
 import spock.lang.Specification
 
 import java.lang.ref.WeakReference
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@ class ClassLoadingTest extends Specification {
     loader.loadClass(ClassToInstrument.getName())
     loader = null
 
-    IntegrationTestUtils.awaitGC(ref)
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(ref)
 
     then:
     null == ref.get()
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/src/test/java/datadog/trace/agent/test/IntegrationTestUtils.java b/dd-java-agent/src/test/java/datadog/trace/agent/test/IntegrationTestUtils.java
index 83b48a0acb..7f9f856e36 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/src/test/java/datadog/trace/agent/test/IntegrationTestUtils.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/src/test/java/datadog/trace/agent/test/IntegrationTestUtils.java
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
-import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -187,20 +186,6 @@ public class IntegrationTestUtils {
     return (String[]) f.get(null);
   }
 
-  public static void awaitGC() {
-    Object obj = new Object();
-    final WeakReference<Object> ref = new WeakReference<>(obj);
-    obj = null;
-    awaitGC(ref);
-  }
-
-  public static void awaitGC(final WeakReference<?> ref) {
-    while (ref.get() != null) {
-      System.gc();
-      System.runFinalization();
-    }
-  }
-
   /**
    * On a separate JVM, run the main method for a given class.
    *
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/testing/src/main/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/test/TestUtils.java b/dd-java-agent/testing/src/main/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/test/TestUtils.java
index 69cbea0951..413b151538 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/testing/src/main/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/test/TestUtils.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/testing/src/main/groovy/datadog/trace/agent/test/TestUtils.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.ServerSocket;
@@ -218,20 +217,6 @@ public class TestUtils {
     }
   }
 
-  public static void awaitGC() {
-    Object obj = new Object();
-    final WeakReference<Object> ref = new WeakReference<>(obj);
-    obj = null;
-    awaitGC(ref);
-  }
-
-  public static void awaitGC(final WeakReference<?> ref) {
-    while (ref.get() != null) {
-      System.gc();
-      System.runFinalization();
-    }
-  }
-
   public static ClassPath getTestClasspath() {
     return testClasspath;
   }
@@ -245,7 +230,7 @@ public class TestUtils {
     }
     try {
       return ClassPath.from(testClassLoader);
-    } catch (IOException e) {
+    } catch (final IOException e) {
       throw new RuntimeException(e);
     }
   }
@@ -254,15 +239,15 @@ public class TestUtils {
    * Parse JVM classpath and return ClassLoader containing all classpath entries. Inspired by Guava.
    */
   private static ClassLoader buildJavaClassPathClassLoader() {
-    ImmutableList.Builder<URL> urls = ImmutableList.builder();
-    for (String entry : Splitter.on(PATH_SEPARATOR.value()).split(JAVA_CLASS_PATH.value())) {
+    final ImmutableList.Builder<URL> urls = ImmutableList.builder();
+    for (final String entry : Splitter.on(PATH_SEPARATOR.value()).split(JAVA_CLASS_PATH.value())) {
       try {
         try {
           urls.add(new File(entry).toURI().toURL());
-        } catch (SecurityException e) { // File.toURI checks to see if the file is a directory
+        } catch (final SecurityException e) { // File.toURI checks to see if the file is a directory
           urls.add(new URL("file", null, new File(entry).getAbsolutePath()));
         }
-      } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
+      } catch (final MalformedURLException e) {
         System.err.println(
             String.format(
                 "Error injecting bootstrap jar: Malformed classpath entry: %s. %s", entry, e));
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/testing/src/test/groovy/context/FieldBackedProviderTest.groovy b/dd-java-agent/testing/src/test/groovy/context/FieldBackedProviderTest.groovy
index 4adf146891..1aba4566ec 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/testing/src/test/groovy/context/FieldBackedProviderTest.groovy
+++ b/dd-java-agent/testing/src/test/groovy/context/FieldBackedProviderTest.groovy
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package context
 import datadog.trace.agent.test.AgentTestRunner
 import datadog.trace.agent.test.TestUtils
 import datadog.trace.api.Config
+import datadog.trace.util.gc.GCUtils
 import net.bytebuddy.agent.ByteBuddyAgent
 import net.bytebuddy.utility.JavaModule
 import spock.lang.Requires
@@ -101,7 +102,7 @@ class FieldBackedProviderTest extends AgentTestRunner {
     final int count = keyValue.get().incrementContextCount()
     WeakReference<KeyClass> instanceRef = new WeakReference(keyValue.get())
     keyValue.set(null)
-    TestUtils.awaitGC(instanceRef)
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(instanceRef)
 
     then:
     instanceRef.get() == null
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/testing/src/test/java/muzzle/MuzzleWeakReferenceTest.java b/dd-java-agent/testing/src/test/java/muzzle/MuzzleWeakReferenceTest.java
index 9b3af88423..8420aa5b71 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/testing/src/test/java/muzzle/MuzzleWeakReferenceTest.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/testing/src/test/java/muzzle/MuzzleWeakReferenceTest.java
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 package muzzle;
 
-import datadog.trace.agent.test.TestUtils;
 import datadog.trace.agent.tooling.muzzle.Reference;
 import datadog.trace.agent.tooling.muzzle.ReferenceCreator;
 import datadog.trace.agent.tooling.muzzle.ReferenceMatcher;
+import datadog.trace.util.gc.GCUtils;
 import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLClassLoader;
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ public class MuzzleWeakReferenceTest {
     final ReferenceMatcher refMatcher = new ReferenceMatcher(refs);
     refMatcher.getMismatchedReferenceSources(loader);
     loader = null;
-    TestUtils.awaitGC(clRef);
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(clRef);
     return clRef.get() == null;
   }
 }
diff --git a/dd-java-agent/testing/testing.gradle b/dd-java-agent/testing/testing.gradle
index f545854164..a878e06820 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/testing/testing.gradle
+++ b/dd-java-agent/testing/testing.gradle
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ dependencies {
 
   compile deps.groovy
 
+  testCompile project(':utils:gc-utils')
+
   // test instrumenting java 1.1 bytecode
   testCompile group: 'net.sf.jt400', name: 'jt400', version: '6.1'
 
diff --git a/dd-trace-ot/dd-trace-ot.gradle b/dd-trace-ot/dd-trace-ot.gradle
index 966b3cd543..66a2258510 100644
--- a/dd-trace-ot/dd-trace-ot.gradle
+++ b/dd-trace-ot/dd-trace-ot.gradle
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ dependencies {
   testImplementation deps.autoservice
 
   testCompile project(":dd-java-agent:testing")
+  testCompile project(':utils:gc-utils')
   testCompile group: 'org.assertj', name: 'assertj-core', version: '2.9.+'
   testCompile group: 'org.mockito', name: 'mockito-core', version: '2.19.0'
   testCompile group: 'org.objenesis', name: 'objenesis', version: '2.6'
diff --git a/dd-trace-ot/src/test/groovy/datadog/opentracing/PendingTraceTest.groovy b/dd-trace-ot/src/test/groovy/datadog/opentracing/PendingTraceTest.groovy
index 3b9e1a347a..92ced670b8 100644
--- a/dd-trace-ot/src/test/groovy/datadog/opentracing/PendingTraceTest.groovy
+++ b/dd-trace-ot/src/test/groovy/datadog/opentracing/PendingTraceTest.groovy
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 package datadog.opentracing
 
-import datadog.trace.agent.test.TestUtils
+
 import datadog.trace.api.Config
 import datadog.trace.common.writer.ListWriter
+import datadog.trace.util.gc.GCUtils
 import spock.lang.Specification
 import spock.lang.Subject
 import spock.lang.Timeout
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ class PendingTraceTest extends Specification {
     when:
     def childRef = new WeakReference<>(child)
     child = null
-    TestUtils.awaitGC(childRef)
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(childRef)
     while (trace.pendingReferenceCount.get() > 0) {
       trace.clean()
     }
diff --git a/dd-trace-ot/src/test/groovy/datadog/opentracing/scopemanager/ScopeManagerTest.groovy b/dd-trace-ot/src/test/groovy/datadog/opentracing/scopemanager/ScopeManagerTest.groovy
index 0b20b084dd..a6d30eadd1 100644
--- a/dd-trace-ot/src/test/groovy/datadog/opentracing/scopemanager/ScopeManagerTest.groovy
+++ b/dd-trace-ot/src/test/groovy/datadog/opentracing/scopemanager/ScopeManagerTest.groovy
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ package datadog.opentracing.scopemanager
 import datadog.opentracing.DDSpan
 import datadog.opentracing.DDSpanContext
 import datadog.opentracing.DDTracer
-import datadog.trace.agent.test.TestUtils
 import datadog.trace.common.writer.ListWriter
 import datadog.trace.context.ScopeListener
+import datadog.trace.util.gc.GCUtils
 import io.opentracing.Scope
 import io.opentracing.Span
 import io.opentracing.noop.NoopSpan
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ class ScopeManagerTest extends Specification {
     continuation.activate()
     if (forceGC) {
       continuation = null // Continuation references also hold up traces.
-      TestUtils.awaitGC() // The goal here is to make sure that continuation DOES NOT get GCed
+      GCUtils.awaitGC() // The goal here is to make sure that continuation DOES NOT get GCed
       while (((DDSpanContext) scope.span().context()).trace.clean()) {
       }
     }
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ class ScopeManagerTest extends Specification {
     if (forceGC) {
       def continuationRef = new WeakReference<>(continuation)
       continuation = null // Continuation references also hold up traces.
-      TestUtils.awaitGC(continuationRef)
+      GCUtils.awaitGC(continuationRef)
       while (traceCount.get() == 0) {
         // wait until trace count increments or timeout expires
       }
diff --git a/dd-trace/dd-trace.gradle b/dd-trace/dd-trace.gradle
index 660c36ea26..f18204bea5 100644
--- a/dd-trace/dd-trace.gradle
+++ b/dd-trace/dd-trace.gradle
@@ -5,15 +5,14 @@ dependencies {
   annotationProcessor deps.autoservice
   implementation deps.autoservice
 
-  compile project(':dd-java-agent:agent-bootstrap')
   compile project(':dd-trace-api')
 
-  compile deps.jackson
   compile deps.slf4j
-  // any higher versions seems to break ES tests with this exception:
-  // java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.smile.SmileGenerator.getOutputContext()
-  compile group: 'org.msgpack', name: 'jackson-dataformat-msgpack', version: '0.8.14'
+  compile deps.jackson
+  compile group: 'org.msgpack', name: 'jackson-dataformat-msgpack', version: '0.8.16'
 
+  compile project(':utils:gc-utils')
+  
   // Spock uses that for mocking
   testCompile deps.bytebuddy
   testCompile group: 'org.objenesis', name: 'objenesis', version: '2.6' // Last version to support Java7
diff --git a/dd-trace/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/tracer/TracerTest.groovy b/dd-trace/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/tracer/TracerTest.groovy
index 4824baa218..df04a03527 100644
--- a/dd-trace/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/tracer/TracerTest.groovy
+++ b/dd-trace/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/tracer/TracerTest.groovy
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import datadog.trace.tracer.sampling.AllSampler
 import datadog.trace.tracer.writer.AgentWriter
 import datadog.trace.tracer.writer.SampleRateByService
 import datadog.trace.tracer.writer.Writer
+import datadog.trace.util.gc.GCUtils
 import spock.lang.Shared
 import spock.lang.Specification
 
@@ -125,7 +126,7 @@ class TracerTest extends Specification {
     span = null
     def traceRef = new WeakReference<>(rootSpan.getTrace())
     rootSpan = null
-    TestUtils.awaitGC(traceRef)
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(traceRef)
 
     then: "invalid trace is written"
     testWriter.waitForTraces(1)
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ class TracerTest extends Specification {
     continuation = null
     def traceRef = new WeakReference<>(rootSpan.getTrace())
     rootSpan = null
-    TestUtils.awaitGC(traceRef)
+    GCUtils.awaitGC(traceRef)
 
     then: "invalid trace is written"
     testWriter.waitForTraces(1)
diff --git a/settings.gradle b/settings.gradle
index 802a6090c5..65308da2df 100644
--- a/settings.gradle
+++ b/settings.gradle
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ include ':dd-java-agent:agent-jmxfetch'
 
 // misc
 include ':dd-java-agent:testing'
+include ':utils:gc-utils'
 
 // smoke tests
 include ':dd-smoke-tests:play'
diff --git a/utils/gc-utils/gc-utils.gradle b/utils/gc-utils/gc-utils.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ff6901ae6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/gc-utils/gc-utils.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+apply from: "${rootDir}/gradle/java.gradle"
diff --git a/dd-trace/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/tracer/TestUtils.java b/utils/gc-utils/src/main/java/datadog/trace/util/gc/GCUtils.java
similarity index 80%
rename from dd-trace/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/tracer/TestUtils.java
rename to utils/gc-utils/src/main/java/datadog/trace/util/gc/GCUtils.java
index 354fdb433c..5b899897e9 100644
--- a/dd-trace/src/test/groovy/datadog/trace/tracer/TestUtils.java
+++ b/utils/gc-utils/src/main/java/datadog/trace/util/gc/GCUtils.java
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
-package datadog.trace.tracer;
+package datadog.trace.util.gc;
 
 import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
 
-// TODO: stop copy-pasting this!
-public class TestUtils {
+public abstract class GCUtils {
 
   public static void awaitGC() {
     Object obj = new Object();