diff --git a/project/pom.xml b/project/pom.xml
index 80d9bf26a2..1eba5e4e81 100644
--- a/project/pom.xml
+++ b/project/pom.xml
@@ -385,6 +385,7 @@
             <exclude>**/README.md</exclude>
             <exclude>**/README.txt</exclude>
             <exclude>**/DEPENDENCIES</exclude>
+            <exclude>**/CONTRIBUTING.md</exclude>
 
             <!-- reference data lists -->
             <exclude>**/*json</exclude>