BARSoft: Register for an Account

BARSoft Enrolment Welcome

BARS Enrolment and Audit Preparation

Any Operator (Aircraft Operator or RPAS Operator) intending to become BARS Registered shall apply for enrolment via the FSF website - BARSoft.

Once the BARS Program Office (BPO) has reviewed and accepted your information to enroll in the Program, a username and password shall be issued. The Operator is then able to:

Enter all company details in the relevant tabs in the Operator Profile on BARSoft;
Create a BARS Audit with preferred dates and Operational Categories to be audited;
Select an Audit Company (AC) of their choice; and
Generate a checklist for the intended Audit.

The BARSoft Username will remain active only for the period of enrolment leading up to the conduct of the BARS Audit and then for the period of BARS Registration until the Registration lapses or is renewed by means of a Renewal Audit.

Audit and Registration Agreements

It is a requirement that a BARS Audit and Registration Agreement be executed by the following parties prior to an Audit being conducted:

The Operator;
The selected Audit Company (AC); and
Flight Safety Foundation (BPO)

The Operator is responsible for selecting and appointing an AC to perform its Audit. This selection and appointment process is at the full discretion of the Operator.

The Operator will be required to pay FSF an agreed fixed audit fee for an Audit. This fee and its payment terms will be set out in the Audit and Registration Agreement.

The Operator will be required to pay the AC any agreed variable fees associated with the conduct of the Audit, including but not limited to Auditor travel and accommodation charges, living expenses or per diems, and any other agreed fees for Audit service delivery. These fees and their payment terms will be set out in the Audit and Registration Agreement as an appendix.

The Operator determines the fleets and operational activities to be in-scope for the audit and the elements to be considered as Out-of-Scope. The AC is responsible for recording the in-scope and out-of-scope elements in the Audit and Registration Agreement schedule.

The AC is responsible for negotiating the terms and agreement of their appointment and for preparing the Audit and Registration Agreement from the current version of the template provided by the BPO and available for downloading from BARSoft.

The Audit and Registration Agreement must be received by the BPO from the AC preferably 70 days, but no later than 35 days, prior to the scheduled Opening Meeting of an Audit. Any agreements received later than 35 days prior to the Opening Meeting may require the Audit dates to be re-scheduled.

Upon receipt of a signed Audit and Registration Agreement, including schedules and any attachments, a representative of the BPO shall review the documents to ensure the content meets all current Program requirements.

Once the content of the Audit and Registration Agreement is deemed satisfactory, an authorized representative of the BPO shall counter-sign and lodge a copy with the associated Audit event in BARSoft

The BPO will:

Issue an invoice for the cost of the Audit which is to be paid by the Operator within 14 days.

Should an Operator not provide payment to the FSF in accordance with the Audit and Registration Agreement, the BPO shall provide written advice to the AC and Operator that the Audit should be delayed/re-scheduled until such payment is received by FSF.

Changes to the planned dates of the Audit are acceptable and must be agreed between the Operator and Audit Company. For renewal Audits, the onsite phase must be conducted no later than 30 before the Current Registration Expiry date.

Note:

BARS Registration commences on the date of the Closing Meeting of the first BARS Audit and lasts for 12 months. To renew BARS Registration a renewal Audit must be conducted in a window of 90 to 30 days prior to the Current Registration Expiry date noted in BARSoft

Welcome to the BARS Program and thank you for expressing an interest in joining the Program as an Audit Company.

Application Process:

Apply online at "Application to Join the BARS Program as an Audit Company";
Please familiarize yourself with the Audit Company Registration Agreement; and
Complete the application form at the end of this section.

The BPO will advise when your application has been processed and will send you the Registration Agreement for your signature.

Once approved, and upon receipt of the registration fee, you will be listed as a Registered BARS Audit Company and will be issued with a username and password to access our software system, BARSoft.

Please read through the following information which explains the benefits, obligations, processes and applicable fees. Should you consider joining the Program as an Audit Company you will be required to:

Familiarize yourself with the Registration Agreement;
Complete the application;
Upload certain documentation; and
Pay an annual registration fee.

BENEFITS

As a member of the BARS Program you will have, amongst others, the following benefits:

Accreditation within the Program as a company registered as one that is eligible to conduct BARS audits;
Receive a portion of the auditing fees in advance of mobilizing for the audit, and not have to wait until post-audit to submit an invoice;
Work to a risk based audit standard accepted globally by the BARS Member Organizations in the resource and other sectors;
Be listed as a Registered BARS Audit Company and therefore eligible for audit work for all BARS Member Organizations in the Program and no longer limited to individual resource sector operators;
Still maintain your status as an aviation adviser to any resource sector company presently utilizing your services;
Be chosen by individual Operators (no longer bound to individual resource sector companies) to conduct their BARS audits;
Have the opportunity to market additional value-added services to such operators;
Manage your audit documentation online via BARSoft (e.g. reduced printing, storage, freight and postage costs, reduced communication times etc.)

OBLIGATIONS

You are required to:

Sign and abide by the Audit Company Registration Agreement including payment of annual registration fees;
Abide by the procedures laid out in the BAR Standard Procedures Manual; and
Only conduct BARS audits on Aircraft Operators under a BARS Audit Agreement and not represent yourself as being able to conduct a "BARS Audit" under any other arrangement.

CONTRACT and FEES

In order to participate as a BARS Audit Company you will be required to complete the BARS Registration Agreement application form which is able to be downloaded from the FSF website. Once your application has been accepted by the FSF and signed by both parties you will be invoiced for the first annual payment and once this has been paid your company will be validated and added to the register.

Applying for BARS Auditor Training

To become a BAR Standard Accredited Auditor, applicants are required to meet specified industry experience criteria to qualify and participate in the BARS Audit Program. Upon the successful completion of the formal training course, applicants will become BAR Standard Accredited Auditors. To maintain accreditation, auditors will be required to meet recency and recurrent training requirements and be subjected to ongoing evaluation of audit quality and conduct.

BARS Audits may only be conducted when an Audit Company (AC) has been requested by an Aircraft Operator (AO) to conduct the audit via BARSoft. ACs allocate Auditors to conduct the audits and because of this all BARS Auditors have to be employed by one of the registered ACs. As Audits are conducted globally many of the ACs employ Auditors in various locations worldwide in order to reduce travel costs. You are not bound by your location when applying to join any AC. You will NOT be permitted to conduct a BARS audit unless employed by or contracted to a registered BARS AC.

Below is a table of qualification prerequisites to enter the BARS Program (the BARS Program Office reserves the right to waive part of these minimum criteria in exceptional circumstances, on a case by case basis) please read these prior to proceeding to the application form.

Qualification Prerequisites for BARS Auditors

BARS Auditors shall only be permitted to conduct Audits within the operational disciplines in which proficiency is demonstrated during the initial qualification and approval process. The operational disciplines are:

Flight Operations; or
Engineering and Maintenance.

A candidate for BARS Auditor training shall submit to the BARS Program Office (BPO) documented and verifiable evidence that satisfies the general criteria (see Table 1) and either, the Flight Operations criteria (see Table 2), or the Engineering and Maintenance criteria (see Table 3) or both.

The BPO may give consideration to an exception in the context of a candidate's professional background experience. Any exemption granted under this provision shall be at the sole discretion of the BPO. The BPO shall make a determination based on analysis of the quality and quantity of the professional background experience of an individual candidate.

Criterion - General	Minimum Experience
Table 1 - General Criteria
Aviation industry experience	Eight years and must have worked in the aviation sector for a minimum of twelve months within the last five years.
Experience in the resource sector aviation environment	Preferred
Total audit experience	Ten Aviation related Audits
Aviation audit experience	Two years experience as an accredited aviation Lead Auditor which shall include having conducted a minimum of two audits as Lead Auditor in the twelve months immediately prior to application

Criterion - Flying Operations	Minimum Experience
Table 2 - Flight Operations Criteria
Licence requirement	Hold, or have held, a commercial pilot license, or higher, issued by a national regulatory authority or Hold or have held an equivalent military qualification; or Hold or have held a flight engineer or navigator qualification.
Flight hours	Commensurate with experience but not less than 2,500 hours
Management/supervisory experience	Flight operations management experience desirable
Operations experience	Flight instructor rating; or Training and/or check airman rating; or Flight safety officer, quality or safety auditor; or Flight Operations inspector for a national regulatory authority; or Flight simulator instructor.

Criterion - Engineering and Maintenance	Minimum Experience
Table 3 - Engineering and Maintenance Criteria
Licence requirement	Hold or have held an aircraft Maintenance Engineer license issued or approved by a National Aviation Authority; or Military equivalent; or Hold or have held a Flight Engineer license; or Aeronautical Engineering degree or diploma.
Aviation experience	Five years experience in aviation engineering or maintenance functions in support of aircraft related maintenance, engineering or quality functions; and must have worked in the aviation sector within the last five years.
Management/supervisory experience	Supervisory experience desirable
Quality experience (note this experience may be included in the aviation experience requirement above)	Two years experience performing quality assurance audits or quality system evaluations of aviation engineering and maintenance activity; or Two years as an airworthiness inspector for a National Regulatory Authority.