Procurement of ESG Report Verification Services

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION) Country Republic of Uzbekistan

Name of Project Electricity Sector Transformation and Resilient Transmission (ESTART) Project

Loan/Credit/Grant No. IDA-69430

Assignment Title Independent Assurance (Verification) of the 2025 Sustainability Report of JSC “National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan”

Reference No. (as per Procurement Plan) ESTART/LCS/ESG-VERIFICATION-2026

Selection Method Least-Cost Based Selection (LCS)

Date of Issue 24 September 2026

Deadline for Submission of EOIs 2 October 2026

1. The Republic of Uzbekistan has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Electricity Sector Transformation and Resilient Transmission (ESTART) Project, and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services. The Project is implemented by JSC “National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan” (“NEGU” or the “Client”). 2. The consulting services (“the Services”) include the independent assurance (verification) of NEGU’s Sustainability Report for 2025, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards and the applicable industry-specific SASB Standards, with the purpose of expressing limited assurance in accordance with ISAE 3000 (Revised) in respect of the information disclosed on seventeen (17) GRI indicators and three (3) SASB indicators. The Services include: planning of the engagement, including a kick-off meeting, confirmation of the scope, boundaries and list of indicators actually disclosed, and approval of a detailed work schedule; information requests, analysis of internal corporate documents, interviews with the Client’s structural subdivisions, collection and analysis of evidence, and analysis of the Client’s internal processes for collecting and validating sustainability information with practical recommendations for their improvement; review of the Sustainability Report text in relation to the indicators under review and preparation of recommendations for its revision; issuance of an independent assurance (verification) conclusion expressing limited assurance, in Uzbek, Russian and English, for publication together with the Sustainability Report; and preparation of a Management Letter with presentation materials, in Uzbek, Russian and English.

The scope of assurance is limited to the information actually disclosed in the Sustainability Report, as set out in the Terms of Reference. The results of the Services shall be submitted no later than forty-five (45) working days from the date of signature of the Contract.

3. The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment

https: //cloud.uzbekistonmet.uz/index.php/s/p8j2BM2tRtMPQB4

4. NEGU now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. 5. Shortlisting criteria and evaluation methodology. The shortlisting criteria are set out in paragraphs 5.1 to 5.5 below. Key Experts will not be evaluated at the shortlisting stage. 5.1 General provisions (a) Consulting/audit firms will be selected for inclusion in the shortlist on the basis of the Expressions of Interest (EOIs) submitted by them. (b) The evaluation will be carried out sequentially in two steps: (i) verification of compliance with the minimum mandatory qualification requirements (paragraph 5.2) on a “Complies / Does Not Comply” basis; and (ii) rating evaluation (paragraph 5.3) of the firms that comply with all minimum mandatory qualification requirements. Only firms that comply with all minimum mandatory qualification requirements will be admitted to the rating evaluation. (c) Firms that comply with all minimum mandatory qualification requirements will be ranked in descending order of their final rating scores. If more than eight (8) firms comply with all minimum mandatory qualification requirements, only the eight (8) highest-ranked firms will be shortlisted, applying the ranking and tie-breaking rules in paragraph 5.4. (d) At the shortlisting stage, the qualifications and experience of individual Key Experts, the detailed methodology for performing the assignment, the technical proposal and the price proposal will not be evaluated. Accordingly, no price proposal, detailed technical proposal or methodology is required, and the CVs, qualifications and experience of individual Key Experts and the proposed team composition will not be evaluated. (e) All firms will be evaluated on the basis of the same criteria and the same scoring procedure set out in this REOI. Points will be awarded exclusively on the basis of the information submitted by the firm in its EOI that allows the relevant experience and qualifications to be objectively confirmed. 5.2 Minimum mandatory qualification requirements (Complies / Does Not Comply) Failure to comply with any one of the following requirements will result in the firm not being admitted to the rating evaluation. No. Requirement Evidence to be submitted in the EOI

(a) Legal status and eligibility. The firm shall be a duly registered legal entity, shall be entitled to carry out the relevant professional activity in accordance with the legislation of its country of registration, and shall comply with the applicable World Bank requirements regarding eligibility of Consultants. By the time the Contract is signed, the firm shall comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan applicable to the provision of the relevant professional services, including the requirements for inclusion in the relevant register of audit organizations of the Republic of Uzbekistan, if such inclusion is mandatory for the performance of this assignment. Brief information about the firm, including year of establishment, country of registration and main areas of professional activity; documents or information confirming the legal status of the firm.