Stick with cpan modules.
Delegate the responsibility of deps to whomever has root access on servers. That's how I roll. Similar situation.
I have a few very complicated doc maintenance type systems- all perl/bash- mostly perl- also CGI::Application head to toe for the gui.
Screw the install like wordpress- using cpan is easier. Btw, I love wordpress, I even install it for clients and friends. I just wget the source, tarxvf, and replace public_html with .. anyhow.. Comparing these things, it's like apples and organges. I say stick with perl/cpan the way it is, don't try to do clever tricks like prepackaging deps, etc. You'll shoot your eye out.