diff --git a/cluster/tools/BUILD b/cluster/tools/BUILD
index a63245e..e43a809 100644
--- a/cluster/tools/BUILD
+++ b/cluster/tools/BUILD
@@ -13,17 +13,13 @@
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
 )
 
-copy_go_binary(
-    name = "calicoctl.bin",
-    src = "@com_github_projectcalico_calicoctl//calicoctl:calicoctl",
-    visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-)
-
 sh_binary(
     name = "calicoctl",
     srcs = ["calicoctl.sh"],
     data = [
-        ":calicoctl.bin",
+        # it's not worth the effort to bazelify all intermediary versions of calicoctl
+        # just to use them once, so until we finish upgrading use upstream binaries
+        "@calicoctl_3_15//file",
         "//tools:secretstore",
         "//tools/hscloud",
     ],