diff --git a/packages/bazel/src/protractor/utils/index.ts b/packages/bazel/src/protractor/utils/index.ts
index 666119d516..424d2a21bb 100644
--- a/packages/bazel/src/protractor/utils/index.ts
+++ b/packages/bazel/src/protractor/utils/index.ts
@@ -71,24 +71,31 @@ export interface ServerSpec {
   port: number;
 }
 
-export function runServer(
-    workspace: string, binary: string, portFlag: string, args: string[],
+/**
+ * Runs the specified server binary from a given workspace and waits for the server
+ * being ready. The server binary will be resolved from the Bazel runfiles. Note that
+ * the server will be launched with a random free port in order to support test concurrency
+ * with Bazel.
+ */
+export async function runServer(
+    workspace: string, serverTarget: string, portFlag: string, serverArgs: string[],
     timeout = 5000): Promise<ServerSpec> {
-  return findFreeTcpPort().then(function(port) {
-    const runfiles_path = process.env.TEST_SRCDIR;
-    const cmd = path.join(runfiles_path, workspace, binary);
+  const serverPath = require.resolve(`${workspace}/${serverTarget}`);
+  const port = await findFreeTcpPort();
 
-    args = args.concat([portFlag, port.toString()]);
+  // Start the Bazel server binary with a random free TCP port.
+  const serverProcess = child_process.spawn(
+      serverPath, serverArgs.concat([portFlag, port.toString()]), {stdio: 'inherit'});
 
-    const child = child_process.spawn(
-        cmd, args, {cwd: path.join(runfiles_path, workspace), stdio: 'inherit'});
-
-    child.on('exit', function(code) {
-      if (code != 0) {
-        throw new Error(`non-zero exit code ${code} from server`);
-      }
-    });
-
-    return waitForServer(port, timeout).then(() => { return {port}; });
+  // In case the process exited with an error, we want to propagate the error.
+  serverProcess.on('exit', exitCode => {
+    if (exitCode !== 0) {
+      throw new Error(`Server exited with error code: ${exitCode}`);
+    }
   });
+
+  // Wait for the server to be bound to the given port.
+  await waitForServer(port, timeout);
+
+  return {port};
 }
diff --git a/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/BUILD.bazel b/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/BUILD.bazel
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..33c2d77f4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/BUILD.bazel
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+load("//tools:defaults.bzl", "jasmine_node_test", "nodejs_binary", "ts_library")
+
+ts_library(
+    name = "protractor_utils_tests_lib",
+    testonly = True,
+    srcs = ["index_test.ts"],
+    deps = [
+        "//packages/bazel/src/protractor/utils",
+    ],
+)
+
+nodejs_binary(
+    name = "fake-devserver",
+    testonly = True,
+    data = [
+        "fake-devserver.js",
+        "@ngdeps//minimist",
+    ],
+    entry_point = "angular/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/fake-devserver.js",
+)
+
+jasmine_node_test(
+    name = "protractor_utils_tests",
+    size = "small",
+    srcs = [":protractor_utils_tests_lib"],
+    data = [
+        ":fake-devserver",
+    ],
+)
diff --git a/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/fake-devserver.js b/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/fake-devserver.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..34e84d3a07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/fake-devserver.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
+ */
+
+const http = require('http');
+const minimist = require('minimist');
+
+const {port} = minimist(process.argv);
+const server = new http.Server();
+
+// Basic request handler so that it could respond to fake requests.
+server.on('request', (req, res) => {
+  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
+  res.end('Running');
+});
+
+server.listen(port);
+
+console.info('Server running on port:', port);
diff --git a/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/index_test.ts b/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/index_test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1bc0d97731
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/index_test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
+ */
+
+import {runServer} from '../../src/protractor/utils';
+
+describe('Bazel protractor utils', () => {
+
+  it('should be able to start devserver', async() => {
+    // Test will automatically time out if the server couldn't be launched as expected.
+    await runServer('angular', 'packages/bazel/test/protractor-utils/fake-devserver', '--port', []);
+  });
+});