Test scripts intended for the Test::Harness framework can be talked into handling all of what you require; they are, after all, just Perl programs.

Basically, you're looking at using Conditional tests like Test::More supports. It works like this:

SKIP: {
   skip $num_tests, "Wasn't able to start the 'foo' daemon" if (
      try_start('/bin/foo') or wait_for('Please start foo', '5m');
   );

   # ... the tests that depend on foo
}
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If you need to bail out completely, you can use the BAIL_OUT method provided by Test::More:

eval {
   try_start('/bin/foo') or wait_for('Please start foo', '5m');
   die "Unable to find a running foo" unless is_running('/bin/foo');
};
if ($@) {
   BAIL_OUT($@);
}
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Please note that these are pretty high-level suggestions, but I hope they can start you thinking in the right direction.