scf-prescreen-checker

SCF Prescreen Checker

Overview

Simulates the SCF prescreen that every Build Award submission goes through before it reaches the review panel. The prescreen is a manual completeness and eligibility check by the SCF team — it confirms your submission is complete, reviewable, and ready, not whether your idea is strong. This skill identifies issues that would get flagged at prescreen so you can fix them first.

How Prescreening Works

Every Build Award submission goes through prescreening before it reaches the review panel — referred and non-referred submissions alike; a referral confers no prescreen exemption. The prescreen is a qualitative, manual check by the SCF team that confirms the submission is complete, reviewable, and meets the core eligibility criteria. It is not a judgment of the strength of your idea, and the SCF team may reach out with suggested edits so you can improve the submission before it is sent to the panel.

The most common prescreen issues:

1. Incomplete applications — Missing sections, unanswered fields, broken links
2. No Stellar integration — Project could work on any chain or doesn't use Stellar at all
3. Ineligible teams or proposals — Sanctioned jurisdictions, duplicate submissions, ineligible project types
4. Vague or incoherent proposals — Submission doesn't clearly describe what's being built

Prescreen Simulation

Run through each check. For each item, report: PASS, FLAG (potential issue), or FAIL (likely prescreen failure).

1. Completeness Check

Check	What to Verify
Project description	Is there a clear description of what's being built?
Problem statement	Is the problem being solved articulated?
Target audience	Is the intended user or market defined?
Technical approach	Is there any technical detail beyond a concept?
Team information	Are team members named with roles?
Deliverables	Are deliverables listed for each tranche?
Budget	Is a budget provided with any breakdown?
Timeline	Are estimated dates or durations included?
Links	Do all provided links actually work? Test every one.

FAIL condition: Any core section is entirely missing or blank. FLAG condition: A section exists but is vague, minimal, or incomplete.

2. Stellar Integration Check

Check	What to Verify
Stellar mentioned	Does the submission explicitly reference Stellar?
Specific capabilities	Does it name specific Stellar features (Soroban, SEPs, anchors, asset issuance)?
Essential vs optional	Would this project work equally well without Stellar?
Technical specifics	Are there technical details about how Stellar is used?
On-chain component	Is there an on-chain element, or is Stellar only mentioned in passing?

FAIL condition: Stellar is not mentioned, or the project has no meaningful Stellar dependency. FLAG condition: Stellar is mentioned but feels peripheral or interchangeable with other chains.

3. Eligibility Check

Check	What to Verify
Project type	Is this a project type the SCF funds (software, infrastructure, protocol)?
Duplicate submission	Is this the same project submitted under a different name?
Prior funding	If previously funded, has the team delivered on past awards?
Budget range	Is the budget within the Build Award range (up to $150K)?

FAIL condition: Ineligible project type or clear track mismatch. FLAG condition: Borderline eligibility or unclear track fit.

4. Quality Threshold Check

Check	What to Verify
Coherence	Does the submission tell a coherent story from problem to solution?
Specificity	Are claims specific and concrete, or vague and generic?
Technical depth	Is there enough technical detail to evaluate the approach?
Budget proportionality	Is the budget roughly proportional to scope?
Writing quality	Is the submission comprehensible?

FAIL condition: Submission is incoherent, entirely generic, or clearly AI-generated boilerplate. FLAG condition: Low specificity or thin technical detail.

5. Red Flag Scan

• Budget over $150K without prior SCF award
• Large marketing line items
• No technical deliverable in MVP milestone
• Team members have no verifiable identity or history
• Project description copied from another submission
• Claims of partnerships with no evidence
• Token launch as a primary deliverable
• No Soroban or on-chain component at all

Output Format

## Prescreen Simulation: [Project Name]

### Overall: [LIKELY PASS / AT RISK / LIKELY FAIL]

### Completeness
- Status: [PASS / FLAG / FAIL]
- Issues: [List any missing or incomplete sections]

### Stellar Integration
- Status: [PASS / FLAG / FAIL]
- Issues: [Is Stellar essential or peripheral?]

### Eligibility
- Status: [PASS / FLAG / FAIL]
- Issues: [Any eligibility concerns]

### Quality Threshold
- Status: [PASS / FLAG / FAIL]
- Issues: [Specificity, coherence, depth concerns]

### Red Flags
- [List any triggered red flags]

### Prescreen Risk Assessment
[1-2 sentence summary]

Scoring Logic

• LIKELY PASS — No FAILs, at most 1 FLAG
• AT RISK — No FAILs, but 2+ FLAGs
• LIKELY FAIL — Any FAIL in Completeness, Stellar Integration, or Eligibility

Reference Links

• SCF Handbook
• Build Track
• FAQ