Procurement will be central to departments looking to save money, a minister has warned.

Treasury minister Angela Eagle called for more innovation and encouraged buyers to "squeeze every last drop of value" from their purchases.

Speaking at a conference in London on Wednesday, she told the civil servants in the audience to push for reform. "Where you think things could be improved, say so. Have a word with your boss, or your permanent secretary, or write to me," she said.

"The credit crunch has radically altered the environment in which we operate. With increasing pressure on the public finances, we must redouble our efforts to ensure we squeeze every last drop of value from our public procurement."

Procurement professionals would have a "massive role" to play, she said. "Now more than ever before, the spotlight is on your profession," she warned.

Eagle said innovation needed to be "at the heart of public procurement", and told the conference that better engagement with suppliers was key to that. "Rather than specifying products or solutions, I want to get to a point where we are so confident in our suppliers that we can routinely specify outcomes," she explained.

Better purchasing should also be a priority for non-procurement officials, Eagle said, and she called for civil servants, from senior responsible owners (SROs) to permanent secretaries, to get involved.

"Nigel Smith, the chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce, is meeting with permanent secretaries from across Whitehall," she told the audience. "Nigel will highlight the strategic role that procurement can play in delivery - so you can expect greater interest in your skills from your departments’ senior management when you return to your desks."

There are many areas of work to improve the government procurement profession, she explained, from OGC guidance to collaborative buying (which had already saved £650m in the last year), to investment in contract managers.

"It is up to all of you to ensure that best practice is being followed in your departments," she told the audience.