diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 45a39b98f..f15aa3bb4 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ COPY go.mod go.mod
 COPY go.sum go.sum
 # cache deps before building and copying source so that we don't need to re-download as much
 # and so that source changes don't invalidate our downloaded layer
-ENV GOPROXY https://goproxy.io,direct
+ENV GOPROXY https://proxy.golang.org,direct
 RUN go mod download
 
 # Copy the go source
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 73c54a610..a8529be13 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ CORE_MANIFEST_FILE := infrastructure-components
 CORE_CONFIG_DIR := config/default
 CORE_NAMESPACE := capi-ibmcloud-system
 
+PATH := $(abspath $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)):$(PATH)
 # Get the currently used golang install path (in GOPATH/bin, unless GOBIN is set)
 ifeq (,$(shell go env GOBIN))
 GOBIN=$(shell go env GOPATH)/bin
@@ -168,9 +169,9 @@ ARTIFACTS ?= $(REPO_ROOT)/_artifacts
 SKIP_CLEANUP ?= false
 SKIP_CREATE_MGMT_CLUSTER ?= false
 
-#Run the end-to-end tests
+# Run the end-to-end tests
 .PHONY: test-e2e
-test-e2e: $(KUBECTL) $(GINKGO) $(ENVSUBST) set-flavor e2e-image 
+test-e2e: $(KUBECTL) $(GINKGO) $(KUSTOMIZE) $(ENVSUBST) set-flavor e2e-image 
 	$(ENVSUBST) < $(E2E_CONF_FILE) > $(E2E_CONF_FILE_ENVSUBST) 
 	$(GINKGO) $(GINKGO_ARGS) ./test/e2e -- \
 		-e2e.artifacts-folder="$(ARTIFACTS)" \
@@ -179,6 +180,11 @@ test-e2e: $(KUBECTL) $(GINKGO) $(ENVSUBST) set-flavor e2e-image
 		-e2e.use-existing-cluster=$(SKIP_CREATE_MGMT_CLUSTER) \
 		-e2e.flavor="$(E2E_FLAVOR)"
 
+# Basic checks for deploying kind cluster and required providers
+.PHONY: test-sanity
+test-sanity:
+	GINKGO_FOCUS="Run Sanity tests" $(MAKE) test-e2e
+
 ## --------------------------------------
 ## Docker
 ## --------------------------------------
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index c25c49ff0..908e6ec4d 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ require (
 	k8s.io/client-go v0.23.0
 	k8s.io/klog/v2 v2.30.0
 	k8s.io/utils v0.0.0-20210930125809-cb0fa318a74b
-	sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api v1.1.0-rc.0
-	sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/test v1.1.0-rc.0
+	sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api v1.1.0
+	sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/test v1.1.0
 	sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime v0.11.0
 )
 
@@ -138,4 +138,4 @@ require (
 	sigs.k8s.io/yaml v1.3.0 // indirect
 )
 
-replace sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api => sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api v1.1.0-rc.0
+replace sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api => sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api v1.1.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index b171811bb..27e497ee1 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1807,10 +1807,10 @@ rsc.io/sampler v1.3.0/go.mod h1:T1hPZKmBbMNahiBKFy5HrXp6adAjACjK9JXDnKaTXpA=
 sigs.k8s.io/apiserver-network-proxy/konnectivity-client v0.0.14/go.mod h1:LEScyzhFmoF5pso/YSeBstl57mOzx9xlU9n85RGrDQg=
 sigs.k8s.io/apiserver-network-proxy/konnectivity-client v0.0.15/go.mod h1:LEScyzhFmoF5pso/YSeBstl57mOzx9xlU9n85RGrDQg=
 sigs.k8s.io/apiserver-network-proxy/konnectivity-client v0.0.25/go.mod h1:Mlj9PNLmG9bZ6BHFwFKDo5afkpWyUISkb9Me0GnK66I=
-sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api v1.1.0-rc.0 h1:YLNabhJpbfuujnJUsR2wONBy+GU5ji9RrZb2SokG4vQ=
-sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api v1.1.0-rc.0/go.mod h1:aSxmmNwDjmg9rDaL0RhRELpGX9uSTTwLF02AMtk/XGY=
-sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/test v1.1.0-rc.0 h1:U0HK82eHJJq1H3uMSf26BOOGu8ioIXuGNIoUAhvISpE=
-sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/test v1.1.0-rc.0/go.mod h1:ct7zQrWXsYIAhL/lMLFPfCAqGLDBTEzx+AtwIXpI45o=
+sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api v1.1.0 h1:zJJzIUezEveYK3Ljmk/jku+DYd96RP5bZ181l2W9gVg=
+sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api v1.1.0/go.mod h1:aSxmmNwDjmg9rDaL0RhRELpGX9uSTTwLF02AMtk/XGY=
+sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/test v1.1.0 h1:eBVFCWxu9/fb/By02uFjOreG9GAd9eax9uZKsCXP58s=
+sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/test v1.1.0/go.mod h1:ct7zQrWXsYIAhL/lMLFPfCAqGLDBTEzx+AtwIXpI45o=
 sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime v0.11.0 h1:DqO+c8mywcZLFJWILq4iktoECTyn30Bkj0CwgqMpZWQ=
 sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime v0.11.0/go.mod h1:KKwLiTooNGu+JmLZGn9Sl3Gjmfj66eMbCQznLP5zcqA=
 sigs.k8s.io/json v0.0.0-20211020170558-c049b76a60c6 h1:fD1pz4yfdADVNfFmcP2aBEtudwUQ1AlLnRBALr33v3s=
diff --git a/scripts/ci-smoke-test.sh b/scripts/ci-smoke-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..ace4738ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ci-smoke-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2022 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+REPO_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/..
+# shellcheck source=../hack/ensure-go.sh
+source "${REPO_ROOT}/hack/ensure-go.sh"
+
+echo "**** Running basic checks by deploying the required CAPI providers on a kind cluster ***"
+cd "${REPO_ROOT}" && make test-sanity
diff --git a/test/e2e/config/ibmcloud-e2e-powervs.yaml b/test/e2e/config/ibmcloud-e2e-powervs.yaml
index 9f76cb362..30b31ac7a 100644
--- a/test/e2e/config/ibmcloud-e2e-powervs.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/config/ibmcloud-e2e-powervs.yaml
@@ -9,24 +9,24 @@ providers:
   - name: cluster-api
     type: CoreProvider
     versions:
-    - name: v1.0.2
-      value: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/v1.0.2/core-components.yaml
+    - name: v1.1.0
+      value: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/v1.1.0/core-components.yaml
       type: url
       files:
       - sourcePath: "${PWD}/test/e2e/data/shared/metadata.yaml"
   - name: kubeadm
     type: BootstrapProvider
     versions:
-    - name: v1.0.2
-      value: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/v1.0.2/bootstrap-components.yaml
+    - name: v1.1.0
+      value: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/v1.1.0/bootstrap-components.yaml
       type: url
       files:
       - sourcePath: "${PWD}/test/e2e/data/shared/metadata.yaml"
   - name: kubeadm
     type: ControlPlaneProvider
     versions:
-    - name: v1.0.2
-      value: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/v1.0.2/control-plane-components.yaml
+    - name: v1.1.0
+      value: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/v1.1.0/control-plane-components.yaml
       type: url
       files:
       - sourcePath: "${PWD}/test/e2e/data/shared/metadata.yaml"
diff --git a/test/e2e/data/shared/metadata.yaml b/test/e2e/data/shared/metadata.yaml
index 061e29b05..4b1b982e8 100644
--- a/test/e2e/data/shared/metadata.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/data/shared/metadata.yaml
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 # update this file only when a new major or minor version is released
 apiVersion: clusterctl.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1alpha3
 releaseSeries:
+  - major: 1
+    minor: 1
+    contract: v1beta1
   - major: 1
     minor: 0
     contract: v1beta1
diff --git a/test/e2e/suite_test.go b/test/e2e/suite_test.go
index 183b087f6..f9b0dc2f8 100644
--- a/test/e2e/suite_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/suite_test.go
@@ -223,6 +223,10 @@ func initBootstrapCluster(bootstrapClusterProxy framework.ClusterProxy, config *
 	}, config.GetIntervals(bootstrapClusterProxy.GetName(), "wait-controllers")...)
 }
 
+var _ = Describe("Run Sanity tests", func() {
+	// TO DO- Add additional testcases for sanity checks
+})
+
 func tearDown(bootstrapClusterProvider bootstrap.ClusterProvider, bootstrapClusterProxy framework.ClusterProxy) {
 	if bootstrapClusterProxy != nil {
 		bootstrapClusterProxy.Dispose(context.TODO())