Hi Louise,
You may have already completed some form of Procurement Health Check for the authority. I did some work for an Education Authority in South Africa and developed a set of procurement manuals along the structure of SA's Supply Chain Management framework for the public sector. There is a strong risk emphasis throughout (http://www.treasury.gov.za/showpfma.htm).
One of their (Education Dept) weakest documents, but the one that had the greatest potential was their Commodity Sourcing Strategy document where they outlined strategies for different education commodities (eg. books, stationary, food/catering, furniture, IT/Systems etc). Their better document focused on the different processes to follow (Demand Planning; Purchasing; Logistics; Reverse Logistics/Disposals; Performance Management and Risk Management). This included a wealth of templates and flow charts. They have a good training plan and set of training guides/manuals to cascade the processes and policies across the different Districts and Schools.
Let me know where you are now and any other specifics I could help with.
Best regards and good luck.
ShaunScott, Joburg