running audit-for-gitlab via cli results in error

Running the following locally per instructions; "to just use the scanner in one of your current scripts"

npm i --global @jitesoft/audit-for-gitlab
cd /my/project/dir
audit-for-gitlab
Cannot convert undefined or null to object

package.json and package-lock.json exists and are valid. node version 14.18.2, npm version 8.11.0