diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 2f1354682b2a5cfcb8a5a95545a30437f3942cd2..fd7117f1c3064cccc916cf768a31e9ce95a13205 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -261,8 +261,8 @@ test-search-service:
   dependencies:
     - build-search-service
   before_script:
-    - "cp ./dbrepo-search-service/init/clients ./dbrepo-search-service/clients"
-    - "cp ./dbrepo-search-service/init/omlib ./dbrepo-search-service/omlib"
+    - "cp -r ./dbrepo-search-service/init/clients ./dbrepo-search-service/clients"
+    - "cp -r ./dbrepo-search-service/init/omlib ./dbrepo-search-service/omlib"
   script:
     - "pip install pipenv"
     - "pipenv install gunicorn && pipenv install --dev --system --deploy"