diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 1f26e7b7a..565d18c58 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -546,8 +546,9 @@
     <target name="vcf.jar" depends="gatk.compile,init.jar">
         <jar jarfile="${dist.dir}/vcf.jar">
             <fileset dir="${java.classes}">
-              <include name="**/utils/codecs/**/*.class"/>
-              <include name="**/utils/variantcontext/**/*.class"/>
+              <include name="org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/codecs/vcf/**/*.class"/>
+              <include name="org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/**/*.class"/>
+              <include name="org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/SelfScopingFeatureCodec.class"/>
               <include name="org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/exceptions/**"/>
 	      <include name="org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/help/DocumentedGATKFeature.class"/>
             </fileset>
@@ -914,7 +915,7 @@
     </target>
 
     <!-- Our four different test conditions: Test, IntegrationTest, PerformanceTest, PipelineTest -->
-    <target name="test" depends="init.buildall,test.compile" description="Run unit tests">
+    <target name="test" depends="init.buildall,test.compile,vcf.jar" description="Run unit tests">
         <condition property="ttype" value="*UnitTest" else="${single}">
             <not><isset property="single"/></not>
         </condition>
diff --git a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VCFJarClassLoadingUnitTest.java b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VCFJarClassLoadingUnitTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..50eebe179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VCFJarClassLoadingUnitTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2011, 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 org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.variantcontext;
+
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.URLClassLoader;
+
+/**
+ * Test to ensure that, given only the VCF jar and its expected dependencies, core VCF classes will load.
+ */
+public class VCFJarClassLoadingUnitTest {
+    @Test
+    public void testVCFJarClassLoading() throws ClassNotFoundException, MalformedURLException {
+        URI vcfURI = new File("dist/vcf.jar").toURI();
+        URI tribbleURI = new File("lib/tribble-24.jar").toURI();
+
+        ClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[] {vcfURI.toURL(),tribbleURI.toURL()}, null);
+        classLoader.loadClass("org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.variantcontext.VariantContext");
+        classLoader.loadClass("org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.codecs.vcf.VCFCodec");
+        classLoader.loadClass("org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.codecs.vcf.VCF3Codec");
+        classLoader.loadClass("org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.codecs.vcf.VCFWriter");
+        classLoader.loadClass("org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.codecs.vcf.StandardVCFWriter");
+    }
+}