Requirements capture is one of the most difficult and critical stages of the development of any computer system. Governments should be assisted in the procurement of all such systems by expert advisers from the areas of information technology, software engineering, computer security, and so on. The CoE standards should embody this expertise in a re-usable form so that each time an e-voting system is to be procured (or an existing system modified) there is an accepted body of knowledge about what the requirements for such systems should incorporate.
The standard should evolve as our collective understanding of e-voting systems improves, and as technological advancements introduce new implementation possibilities. The standards should - at the very least - be able to guide a government in deciding what sort of requirements they need to consider and in making sure that they do not overlook some critical aspects. They should also help governments in writing requirements specifications that form part of the procurement contract with the system vendors. In particular, they should provide guidelines with respect to the structuring of such requirements, and advice concerning alternative implementation technologies that have proven themselves in meeting particular requirements.
Without this advice, the risk of the procurement process failing to result in a trustworthy e-voting system will increase dramatically.