Projects

Hong Kong Meat Processing Public-Private Partnership

The Situation

In 2007, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of the Government of Hong Kong called for tenders to undertake a project to review the business model for a large state-owned slaughterhouse, which provided the majority of Hong Kong’s fresh meat supplies.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong was selected as the preferred supplier to undertake this work, in association with Prime Consulting International Ltd as technical partner. The contract with the private sector operator of the slaughterhouse was due to expire and the Hong Kong Government wished to review options for the operating model.

Key considerations were value for money, cost and efficiency, maintaining food safety, maintaining environmental standards and market competitiveness issues.

The Process

The project involved a desktop review of documents supplied, comprehensive stakeholder discussions and an on site review of the slaughterhouse operation.

A benchmarking study was undertaken to compare the business arrangements and cost/efficiency of the existing Hong Kong operation with similar operations and supply chains in other countries.

Different options for operating the Hong Kong slaughterhouse were discussed with the client and a modified version of its existing operating model was selected as the best option.

This led to a subsequent project to advise on the tender process for a new operator in 2008, when the contract with the existing operator expired.

The Outcome

The business model for the operation of the Hong Kong slaughterhouse was amended in a number of important ways to improve its fit with stakeholder requirements.

The original operator of the slaughterhouse was successful in winning the rights to continue operating the slaughterhouse via a competitive bid process.

Prime team members involved

  • Alan Pearson
  • Angus Davidson
  • Principal project partners PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong and Minter Ellison Law