diff --git a/internal/kibana/policies.go b/internal/kibana/policies.go
index e41314d40d..59cd10f876 100644
--- a/internal/kibana/policies.go
+++ b/internal/kibana/policies.go
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ type PackageDataStream struct {
 	Enabled     bool    `json:"enabled"`
 	OutputID    string  `json:"output_id"`
 	Inputs      []Input `json:"inputs"`
+	Vars        Vars    `json:"vars,omitempty"`
 	Package     struct {
 		Name    string `json:"name"`
 		Title   string `json:"title"`
diff --git a/internal/testrunner/runners/system/runner.go b/internal/testrunner/runners/system/runner.go
index ba019459c3..b61588371b 100644
--- a/internal/testrunner/runners/system/runner.go
+++ b/internal/testrunner/runners/system/runner.go
@@ -582,16 +582,14 @@ func createIntegrationPackageDatastream(
 	streams[0].Vars = setKibanaVariables(stream.Vars, config.DataStream.Vars)
 	r.Inputs[0].Streams = streams
 
-	// Add package-level vars
-	var inputVars []packages.Variable
+	// Add input-level vars
 	input := policyTemplate.FindInputByType(streamInput)
 	if input != nil {
-		// copy package-level vars into each input
-		inputVars = append(inputVars, input.Vars...)
-		inputVars = append(inputVars, pkg.Vars...)
+		r.Inputs[0].Vars = setKibanaVariables(input.Vars, config.Vars)
 	}
 
-	r.Inputs[0].Vars = setKibanaVariables(inputVars, config.Vars)
+	// Add package-level vars
+	r.Vars = setKibanaVariables(pkg.Vars, config.Vars)
 
 	return r
 }
diff --git a/test/packages/parallel/gcp/data_stream/compute/_dev/test/system/test-default-config.yml b/test/packages/parallel/gcp/data_stream/compute/_dev/test/system/test-default-config.yml
index 3ab5ca962f..6e96082d0a 100644
--- a/test/packages/parallel/gcp/data_stream/compute/_dev/test/system/test-default-config.yml
+++ b/test/packages/parallel/gcp/data_stream/compute/_dev/test/system/test-default-config.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # wait_for_data_timeout: 10m
 vars:
   project_id: "{{GCP_PROJECT_ID}}"
-  zone: "{{GCP_ZONE}}"
   credentials_json: '{{{GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS}}}'
-data_streams:
-  vars: ~
+data_stream:
+  vars:
+    zone: "{{GCP_ZONE}}"
+    region: "{{GCP_REGION}}"
diff --git a/test/packages/parallel/gcp/manifest.yml b/test/packages/parallel/gcp/manifest.yml
index 67b918fc7e..62047b3e7b 100644
--- a/test/packages/parallel/gcp/manifest.yml
+++ b/test/packages/parallel/gcp/manifest.yml
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ vars:
     multi: false
     required: true
     show_user: true
-    default: SET_PROJECT_NAME
   - name: credentials_file
     type: text
     title: Credentials File