diff --git a/src/test/shell/bazel/bazel_coverage_starlark_test.sh b/src/test/shell/bazel/bazel_coverage_starlark_test.sh
index e97c1500c5e14c..34fcd7f40d1b95 100755
--- a/src/test/shell/bazel/bazel_coverage_starlark_test.sh
+++ b/src/test/shell/bazel/bazel_coverage_starlark_test.sh
@@ -40,8 +40,22 @@ function test_starlark_rule_without_lcov_merger() {
     cat <<EOF > rules.bzl
 def _impl(ctx):
     output = ctx.actions.declare_file(ctx.attr.name)
-    ctx.actions.write(output, "", is_executable = True)
-    return [DefaultInfo(executable=output)]
+    ctx.actions.write(output, """\
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [[ ! -r extra ]]; then
+  echo "extra file not found" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if [[ -z \$COVERAGE ]]; then
+  echo "COVERAGE environment variable not set, coverage not run."
+  exit 1
+fi
+""", is_executable = True)
+    extra_file = ctx.actions.declare_file("extra")
+    ctx.actions.write(extra_file, "extra")
+    return [DefaultInfo(executable=output, runfiles=ctx.runfiles(files=[extra_file]))]
 
 custom_test = rule(
     implementation = _impl,
diff --git a/tools/test/collect_coverage.sh b/tools/test/collect_coverage.sh
index 34eb11637b1139..9d480ba8484e6c 100755
--- a/tools/test/collect_coverage.sh
+++ b/tools/test/collect_coverage.sh
@@ -30,21 +30,6 @@ if [[ -n "$VERBOSE_COVERAGE" ]]; then
   set -x
 fi
 
-if [[ -z "$LCOV_MERGER" ]]; then
-  # this can happen if a rule returns an InstrumentedFilesInfo (which all do
-  # following 5b216b2) but does not define an _lcov_merger attribute.
-  # Unfortunately, we cannot simply stop this script being called in this case
-  # due to conflicts with how things work within Google.
-  # The file creation is required because TestActionBuilder has already declared
-  # it.
-  # TODO(cmita): Improve this situation so this early-exit isn't required.
-  touch $COVERAGE_OUTPUT_FILE
-  # Execute the test.
-  "$@"
-  TEST_STATUS=$?
-  exit "$TEST_STATUS"
-fi
-
 function resolve_links() {
   local name="$1"
 
@@ -101,15 +86,6 @@ export JAVA_COVERAGE_FILE=$COVERAGE_DIR/jvcov.dat
 export COVERAGE=1
 export BULK_COVERAGE_RUN=1
 
-
-for name in "$LCOV_MERGER"; do
-  if [[ ! -e $name ]]; then
-    echo --
-    echo Coverage runner: cannot locate file $name
-    exit 1
-  fi
-done
-
 # Setting up the environment for executing the C++ tests.
 if [[ -z "$GCOV_PREFIX_STRIP" ]]; then
   # TODO: GCOV_PREFIX_STRIP=3 is incorrect on MacOS in the default setup
@@ -202,6 +178,24 @@ if [[ "$CC_CODE_COVERAGE_SCRIPT" ]]; then
     eval "${CC_CODE_COVERAGE_SCRIPT}"
 fi
 
+if [[ -z "$LCOV_MERGER" ]]; then
+  # this can happen if a rule returns an InstrumentedFilesInfo (which all do
+  # following 5b216b2) but does not define an _lcov_merger attribute.
+  # Unfortunately, we cannot simply stop this script being called in this case
+  # due to conflicts with how things work within Google.
+  # The file creation is required because TestActionBuilder has already declared
+  # it.
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+for name in "$LCOV_MERGER"; do
+  if [[ ! -e $name ]]; then
+    echo --
+    echo Coverage runner: cannot locate file $name
+    exit 1
+  fi
+done
+
 # Export the command line that invokes LcovMerger with the flags:
 # --coverage_dir          The absolute path of the directory where the
 #                         intermediate coverage reports are located.