diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMTag.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMTag.java
index 1ea8b88239..a2259c4a81 100644
--- a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMTag.java
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMTag.java
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ public enum SAMTag {
     MQ,
     NH,
     NM,
+    OA,
     OQ,
     OP,
     OC,
@@ -84,8 +85,8 @@ public enum SAMTag {
     PQ,
     PT,
     PU,
-    QT,
     Q2,
+    QT,
     QX,
     R2,
     RG,
diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/util/SamConstants.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/util/SamConstants.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9a6f0456c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/util/SamConstants.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * The MIT License
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2019 The Broad Institute
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+ * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+ * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+ * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+ * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+ * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+ * THE SOFTWARE.
+ */
+
+package htsjdk.samtools.util;
+
+/**
+ * A set of constants defined in the sam-spec (https://github.com/samtools/hts-specs) that need
+ * to be referenced in code.
+ */
+ public final class SamConstants {
+
+    //No need to instantiate this class since all the onstants should be static
+    private SamConstants(){};
+
+    final static String BARCODE_SEQUENCE_DELIMITER = "-";
+    final static String BARCODE_QUALITY_DELIMITER = " ";
+}