The correct answer is C. The main purpose of pre-project activities is to verify whether the project is worth starting. Before formal authorization, the organization should evaluate the need or opportunity, strategic alignment, expected benefits, rationale, feasibility, high-level risks, assumptions, constraints, investment requirements, and stakeholder expectations. This stage helps determine whether the proposed project should proceed, be modified, deferred, rejected, or combined with other initiatives. Option A is too narrow because evaluating team competence may be useful later in resourcing, but it is not the central purpose of pre-project activities. Option B relates more to planning and delivery control after the project has been authorized. Pre-project work is primarily concerned with justification and selection: does the project make sense, does it support organizational objectives, and is it likely to deliver value? This is also where a project brief or business case may be developed or refined to support decision-making. The source question set states this purpose directly in the options and identifies verification of whether the project is worth starting as the main purpose.

Reference topics: pre-project activities, project justification, project brief, business case, authorization, strategic alignment.