diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-docker-compose.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-docker-compose.yml
index 7332d9b01dca76e8b1a815ca67b12fe2800fec91..ee8dda9ee1bcbb7767227ad58f702bda999c52bb 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-docker-compose.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-docker-compose.yml
@@ -623,6 +623,7 @@ stages:
         log_error "... no Docker Compose file found in $DCMP_SCRIPTS_DIR: please refer to the template documentation"
         exit 1
       fi
+      export COMPOSE_FILE
     fi
   
     # dotenv files lookup