diff --git a/tests/spec/core/biblio-spec.js b/tests/spec/core/biblio-spec.js
index 7fd1a94895..1be0ee41b7 100644
--- a/tests/spec/core/biblio-spec.js
+++ b/tests/spec/core/biblio-spec.js
@@ -59,18 +59,17 @@ describe("W3C — Bibliographic References", () => {
   `;
 
   afterAll(flushIframes);
-  let isSpecRefAvailable = false;
   const bibRefsURL = new URL("https://specref.herokuapp.com/bibrefs");
 
   let doc;
+  let specRefOk;
   beforeAll(async () => {
     doc = await makeRSDoc({ config, body });
+    specRefOk = (await fetch(bibRefsURL, { method: "HEAD" })).ok;
   });
 
-  it("pings biblio service to see if it's running", async () => {
-    const res = await fetch(bibRefsURL, { method: "HEAD" });
-    expect(res.ok).toBeTruthy();
-    isSpecRefAvailable = res.ok;
+  it("pings biblio service to see if it's running", () => {
+    expect(specRefOk).toBeTruthy();
   });
 
   it("includes a dns-prefetch to bibref server", () => {
@@ -85,7 +84,7 @@ describe("W3C — Bibliographic References", () => {
     let ref = doc.querySelector("#bib-TestRef1 + dd");
     expect(ref).toBeTruthy();
     // This prevents Jasmine from taking down the whole test suite if SpecRef is down.
-    if (!isSpecRefAvailable) {
+    if (!specRefOk) {
       throw new Error(
         "SpecRef seems to be down. Can't proceed with this spec."
       );