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..03b3cb73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/ColumnSorter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+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.*;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+@Component
+public class ColumnSorter {
+    private final Map<String, Integer> infoColumnsOrder;
+
+    @Autowired
+    public ColumnSorter(@Value("#{'${variant.info_column_order:}'}") String infoColumnOrderString) {
+        if (infoColumnOrderString == null || infoColumnOrderString.isEmpty()) {
+            infoColumnsOrder = Map.of();
+        } else {
+            String[] infoColumnOrder = infoColumnOrderString.split(",");
+            HashMap<String, Integer> order = new HashMap<>();
+            for (int i = 0; i < infoColumnOrder.length; i++) {
+                order.put(infoColumnOrder[i], i);
+            }
+            this.infoColumnsOrder = order;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public List<String> sortInfoColumns(Set<String> columns) {
+        // backwards compatibility check.
+        if (infoColumnsOrder.isEmpty()) {
+            return new ArrayList<>(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 de77d1fe..7310e6f9 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 edu.harvard.hms.dbmi.avillach.hpds.data.genotype.*;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -33,12 +34,14 @@ public class VariantListProcessor implements HpdsProcessor {
 	private final int CACHE_SIZE;
 
 	private final AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor;
+	private final ColumnSorter columnSorter;
 
 
 	@Autowired
-	public VariantListProcessor(AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor, GenomicProcessor genomicProcessor, @Value("${VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED:false}") boolean vcfExcerptEnabled ) {
+	public VariantListProcessor(AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor, GenomicProcessor genomicProcessor, ColumnSorter columnSorter, @Value("${VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED:false}") boolean vcfExcerptEnabled) {
 		this.abstractProcessor = abstractProcessor;
 		this.genomicProcessor = genomicProcessor;
+		this.columnSorter = columnSorter;
 
 		VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED = vcfExcerptEnabled;
 		//always enable aggregate queries if full queries are permitted.
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@ public VariantListProcessor(AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor, GenomicProcesso
 	public VariantListProcessor(boolean isOnlyForTests, AbstractProcessor abstractProcessor)  {
 		this.abstractProcessor = abstractProcessor;
 		this.genomicProcessor = null;
+		this.columnSorter = new ColumnSorter("");
 
 		VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED = "TRUE".equalsIgnoreCase(System.getProperty("VCF_EXCERPT_ENABLED", "FALSE"));
 		//always enable aggregate queries if full queries are permitted.
@@ -171,8 +175,9 @@ 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);
 		}
 
@@ -250,7 +255,7 @@ 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..a19a7753
--- /dev/null
+++ b/processing/src/test/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/ColumnSorterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package edu.harvard.hms.dbmi.avillach.hpds.processing;
+
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.*;
+
+public class ColumnSorterTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldSortColumns() {
+        ColumnSorter subject = new ColumnSorter("a,b,c");
+        List<String> actual = subject.sortInfoColumns(Set.of("b", "c", "a"));
+        List<String> expected = List.of("a", "b", "c");
+
+        assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldExcludeMissingColumns() {
+        ColumnSorter subject = new ColumnSorter("a,b,c");
+        List<String> actual = subject.sortInfoColumns(Set.of("d", "b", "c", "a"));
+        List<String> expected = List.of("a", "b", "c");
+
+        assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldNotBreakForMissingColumns() {
+        ColumnSorter subject = new ColumnSorter("a,b,c,d");
+        List<String> actual = subject.sortInfoColumns(Set.of("d", "a"));
+        List<String> expected = List.of("a", "d");
+
+        assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldNoOpWithoutConfig() {
+        ColumnSorter subject = new ColumnSorter("");
+        List<String> actual = subject.sortInfoColumns(Set.of("b", "c", "a"));
+        List<String> expected = List.of("b", "c", "a");
+
+        assertThat(new HashSet<>(expected), is(equalTo(new HashSet<>(actual))));
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file