diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/ColumnSorter.java b/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/ColumnSorter.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c5c05783
--- /dev/null
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/ColumnSorter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package edu.harvard.hms.dbmi.avillach.hpds.processing;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+@Component
+public class ColumnSorter {
+    private final Map<String, Integer> infoColumnsOrder;
+
+    @Autowired
+    public ColumnSorter(@Value("${variant.info_column_order:}") List<String> infoColumnOrder) {
+        HashMap<String, Integer> order = new HashMap<>();
+        for (int i = 0; i < infoColumnOrder.size(); i++) {
+            order.put(infoColumnOrder.get(i), i);
+        }
+        this.infoColumnsOrder = order;
+    }
+
+    public List<String> sortInfoColumns(List<String> columns) {
+        // backwards compatibility check.
+        if (infoColumnsOrder.isEmpty()) {
+            return columns;
+        }
+        return columns.stream()
+            .filter(infoColumnsOrder::containsKey)
+            .sorted((a, b) -> Integer.compare(
+                infoColumnsOrder.getOrDefault(a, Integer.MAX_VALUE),
+                infoColumnsOrder.getOrDefault(b, Integer.MAX_VALUE)
+            ))
+            .collect(Collectors.toList());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/VariantListProcessor.java b/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/VariantListProcessor.java
index a40aa347..115b28fd 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/VariantListProcessor.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/VariantListProcessor.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import java.util.*;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
+import org.checkerframework.checker.units.qual.C;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@
 import edu.harvard.hms.dbmi.avillach.hpds.data.query.Query;
 import edu.harvard.hms.dbmi.avillach.hpds.exception.NotEnoughMemoryException;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
 
 @Component
@@ -34,12 +36,14 @@ public class VariantListProcessor implements HpdsProcessor {
 	private final int CACHE_SIZE;
 
 	private final AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor;
+	private final ColumnSorter columnSorter;
 
 
 	@Autowired
-	public VariantListProcessor(AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor) {
+	public VariantListProcessor(AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor, ColumnSorter columnSorter) {
 		this.abstractProcessor = abstractProcessor;
 		this.metadataIndex = VariantMetadataIndex.createInstance(VariantMetadataIndex.VARIANT_METADATA_BIN_FILE);
+		this.columnSorter = columnSorter;
 
 		VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED = "TRUE".equalsIgnoreCase(System.getProperty("VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED", "FALSE"));
 		//always enable aggregate queries if full queries are permitted.
@@ -54,6 +58,7 @@ public VariantListProcessor(AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor) {
 	public VariantListProcessor(boolean isOnlyForTests, AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor)  {
 		this.abstractProcessor = abstractProcessor;
 		this.metadataIndex = null;
+		this.columnSorter = new ColumnSorter(List.of());
 
 		VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED = "TRUE".equalsIgnoreCase(System.getProperty("VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED", "FALSE"));
 		//always enable aggregate queries if full queries are permitted.
@@ -172,8 +177,9 @@ public String runVcfExcerptQuery(Query query, boolean includePatientData) throws
 		//5 columns for gene info
 		builder.append("CHROM\tPOSITION\tREF\tALT");
 
+		List<String> infoStoreColumns = columnSorter.sortInfoColumns(abstractProcessor.getInfoStoreColumns());
 		//now add the variant metadata column headers
-		for(String key : abstractProcessor.getInfoStoreColumns()) {
+		for(String key : infoStoreColumns) {
 			builder.append("\t" + key);
 		}
 
@@ -251,7 +257,7 @@ public String runVcfExcerptQuery(Query query, boolean includePatientData) throws
 			}
 
 			//need to make sure columns are pushed out in the right order; use same iterator as headers
-			for(String key : abstractProcessor.getInfoStoreColumns()) {
+			for(String key : infoStoreColumns) {
 				Set<String> columnMeta = variantColumnMap.get(key);
 				if(columnMeta != null) {
 					//collect our sets to a single entry
diff --git a/processing/src/test/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/ColumnSorterTest.java b/processing/src/test/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/ColumnSorterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..954ac9f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/processing/src/test/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/ColumnSorterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+package edu.harvard.hms.dbmi.avillach.hpds.processing;
+
+
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+public class ColumnSorterTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldSortColumns() {
+        ColumnSorter subject = new ColumnSorter(List.of("a", "b", "c"));
+        List<String> actual = subject.sortInfoColumns(new ArrayList<>(List.of("b", "c", "a")));
+        List<String> expected = List.of("a", "b", "c");
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldExcludeMissingColumns() {
+        ColumnSorter subject = new ColumnSorter(List.of("a", "b", "c"));
+        List<String> actual = subject.sortInfoColumns(new ArrayList<>(List.of("d", "b", "c", "a")));
+        List<String> expected = List.of("a", "b", "c");
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldNotBreakForMissingColumns() {
+        ColumnSorter subject = new ColumnSorter(List.of("a", "b", "c", "d"));
+        List<String> actual = subject.sortInfoColumns(new ArrayList<>(List.of("d", "a")));
+        List<String> expected = List.of("a", "d");
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldNoOpWithoutConfig() {
+        ColumnSorter subject = new ColumnSorter(List.of());
+        List<String> actual = subject.sortInfoColumns(new ArrayList<>(List.of("b", "c", "a")));
+        List<String> expected = List.of("b", "c", "a");
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file