diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 615eb5239e9863fd10a74040af4f4dc7ae3e8bfe..7597316c317fd4d08add52f4021d82e177ed3cc2 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ stages:
     *kube-auth
   script:
     - cd mellon/${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}
-    - kubectl get -n cbio-on-demand${NAMESPACE} configmaps cert || kubectl -n cbio-on-demand${NAMESPACE} create configmap cert --from-file=sp_cert.pem
-    - kubectl get -n cbio-on-demand${NAMESPACE} configmaps xml || kubectl -n cbio-on-demand${NAMESPACE} create configmap xml --from-file=sp-metadata.xml
+    - kubectl -n cbio-on-demand${NAMESPACE} create configmap cert --from-file=sp_cert.pem --dry-run -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
+    - kubectl -n cbio-on-demand${NAMESPACE} create configmap xml --from-file=sp-metadata.xml --dry-run -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
     - export foo="${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}_KEY"
     - foo=$(eval echo \$"$foo")
     - mv $foo ./sp_key.pem