diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/GATKSAMReadGroupRecord.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/GATKSAMReadGroupRecord.java
index c7ffcab0c..ff7d12f09 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/GATKSAMReadGroupRecord.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/GATKSAMReadGroupRecord.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.sam;
 
 import net.sf.samtools.SAMReadGroupRecord;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.NGSPlatform;
 
 /**
  * @author ebanks
@@ -15,16 +16,28 @@ public class GATKSAMReadGroupRecord extends SAMReadGroupRecord {
     // the SAMReadGroupRecord data we're caching
     private String mSample = null;
     private String mPlatform = null;
+    private NGSPlatform mNGSPlatform = null;
 
     // because some values can be null, we don't want to duplicate effort
     private boolean retrievedSample = false;
     private boolean retrievedPlatform = false;
+    private boolean retrievedNGSPlatform = false;
 
+    public GATKSAMReadGroupRecord(final String id) {
+        super(id);
+    }
 
     public GATKSAMReadGroupRecord(SAMReadGroupRecord record) {
         super(record.getReadGroupId(), record);
     }
 
+    public GATKSAMReadGroupRecord(SAMReadGroupRecord record, NGSPlatform pl) {
+        super(record.getReadGroupId(), record);
+        setPlatform(pl.getDefaultPlatform());
+        mNGSPlatform = pl;
+        retrievedPlatform = retrievedNGSPlatform = true;
+    }
+
     ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
     // *** The following methods are overloaded to cache the appropriate data ***//
     ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -55,5 +68,15 @@ public class GATKSAMReadGroupRecord extends SAMReadGroupRecord {
         super.setPlatform(s);
         mPlatform = s;
         retrievedPlatform = true;
+        retrievedNGSPlatform = false;  // recalculate the NGSPlatform
+    }
+
+    public NGSPlatform getNGSPlatform() {
+        if ( ! retrievedNGSPlatform ) {
+            mNGSPlatform = NGSPlatform.fromReadGroupPL(getPlatform());
+            retrievedNGSPlatform = true;
+        }
+
+        return mNGSPlatform;
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/GATKSAMRecord.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/GATKSAMRecord.java
index 7956ac388..037545a78 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/GATKSAMRecord.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/GATKSAMRecord.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.sam;
 
 import net.sf.samtools.*;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.NGSPlatform;
 
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
 public class GATKSamRecord extends BAMRecord {
     // the SAMRecord data we're caching
     private String mReadString = null;
-    private SAMReadGroupRecord mReadGroup = null;
+    private GATKSAMReadGroupRecord mReadGroup = null;
 
     // because some values can be null, we don't want to duplicate effort
     private boolean retrievedReadGroup = false;
@@ -81,17 +82,22 @@ public class GATKSamRecord extends BAMRecord {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public SAMReadGroupRecord getReadGroup() {
+    public GATKSAMReadGroupRecord getReadGroup() {
         if ( !retrievedReadGroup ) {
             SAMReadGroupRecord tempReadGroup = super.getReadGroup();
-            mReadGroup = (tempReadGroup == null ? tempReadGroup : new GATKSAMReadGroupRecord(tempReadGroup));
+            mReadGroup = (tempReadGroup == null ? null : new GATKSAMReadGroupRecord(tempReadGroup));
             retrievedReadGroup = true;
         }
         return mReadGroup;
     }
 
-    public void setReadGroup(SAMReadGroupRecord record) {
-        mReadGroup = record;
+    public NGSPlatform getNGSPlatform() {
+        return getReadGroup().getNGSPlatform();
+    }
+
+    public void setReadGroup( final GATKSAMReadGroupRecord readGroup ) {
+        mReadGroup = readGroup;
+        retrievedReadGroup = true;
     }
 
     /**