diff --git a/.kokoro/dependencies.sh b/.kokoro/dependencies.sh
index f20d192c3d..1e30d1bd0b 100755
--- a/.kokoro/dependencies.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/dependencies.sh
@@ -66,11 +66,11 @@ function completenessCheck() {
   # This is stripped from the output as it is not present in the flattened pom.
   # Only dependencies with 'compile' or 'runtime' scope are included from original dependency list.
   msg "Generating dependency list using original pom..."
-  mvn dependency:list -f pom.xml -DincludeScope=runtime -DexcludeArtifactIds=gson,commons-codec,commons-logging,opencensus-api,opencensus-contrib-http-util,httpclient,httpcore -Dsort=true | grep '\[INFO]    .*:.*:.*:.*:.*' | sed -e 's/ --.*//' >.org-list.txt
+  mvn dependency:list -f pom.xml -DincludeScope=runtime -DexcludeArtifactIds=gson,commons-codec,commons-logging,opencensus-api,opencensus-contrib-http-util,httpclient,httpcore,protobuf-java-util -Dsort=true | grep '\[INFO]    .*:.*:.*:.*:.*' | sed -e 's/ --.*//' >.org-list.txt
 
   # Output dep list generated using the flattened pom (only 'compile' and 'runtime' scopes)
   msg "Generating dependency list using flattened pom..."
-  mvn dependency:list -f .flattened-pom.xml -DincludeScope=runtime -DexcludeArtifactIds=gson,commons-codec,commons-logging,opencensus-api,opencensus-contrib-http-util,httpclient,httpcore -Dsort=true | grep '\[INFO]    .*:.*:.*:.*:.*' >.new-list.txt
+  mvn dependency:list -f .flattened-pom.xml -DincludeScope=runtime -DexcludeArtifactIds=gson,commons-codec,commons-logging,opencensus-api,opencensus-contrib-http-util,httpclient,httpcore,protobuf-java-util -Dsort=true | grep '\[INFO]    .*:.*:.*:.*:.*' >.new-list.txt
 
   # Compare two dependency lists
   msg "Comparing dependency lists..."
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 141cb5808e..49e01fe6b5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -56,13 +56,13 @@ implementation 'com.google.cloud:google-cloud-bigquerystorage'
 If you are using Gradle without BOM, add this to your dependencies:
 
 ```Groovy
-implementation 'com.google.cloud:google-cloud-bigquerystorage:2.17.0'
+implementation 'com.google.cloud:google-cloud-bigquerystorage:2.18.0'
 ```
 
 If you are using SBT, add this to your dependencies:
 
 ```Scala
-libraryDependencies += "com.google.cloud" % "google-cloud-bigquerystorage" % "2.17.0"
+libraryDependencies += "com.google.cloud" % "google-cloud-bigquerystorage" % "2.18.0"
 ```
 
 ## Authentication
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquerystorage-bom/pom.xml b/google-cloud-bigquerystorage-bom/pom.xml
index 30976b5d2d..8c7697b40a 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquerystorage-bom/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquerystorage-bom/pom.xml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-shared-config</artifactId>
-    <version>1.5.1</version>
+    <version>1.5.3</version>
   </parent>
 
   <name>Google Cloud bigquerystorage BOM</name>
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquerystorage/pom.xml b/google-cloud-bigquerystorage/pom.xml
index 76c859d133..73341da043 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquerystorage/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquerystorage/pom.xml
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
       <artifactId>google-cloud-core</artifactId>
+      <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index e63f4ad485..f88a5c5aae 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-shared-config</artifactId>
-    <version>1.5.1</version>
+    <version>1.5.3</version>
   </parent>
 
   <developers>