Hawaii may end up working with Chicago as the process moves forward to choose a site for the Barack Obama Presidential Library.

Hawaii officials Thursday acknowledged meeting with their counterparts from the Windy City regarding possible ways to collaborate in the building of the library complex.

But officials here said they’re still planning to submit a full and complete bid that aims to place the entire library in Honolulu. At the same time, they continue to say they are willing to work with any other institution or city if Obama chooses to split up the complex.

"We’ve always had the idea that we would be working with someone and not in competition with anyone," Gov. Neil Abercrombie said in a statement. "What we want to do is be a part of whatever the president decides is going to be his legacy in terms of institutions and infrastructure."

On Thursday the foundation overseeing the development of the presidential library described in detail what it’s looking for from potential bidders. The "request for qualifications" seeks information such as site details, transportation access and community information "to demonstrate a capacity to successfully build and maintain a future presidential library."

It also describes the library as a possible "multi-unit facility" and suggests that "primary" and "secondary" locations will be chosen, leaving open the possibility some sort of multistate library complex could be the ultimate outcome.

That was the case when President Bill Clinton established his library in his home state of Arkansas but put his foundation in New York City.

Hawaii, Obama’s birth state, and Illinois, his home for a couple of decades, have been lobbying for the library for several years, hoping in part to cash in on the potential for hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development. Columbia University in New York, where Obama went to college, is also expected to submit a bid.

The University of Chicago, where Obama taught law and with many other ties to the president, has indicated it will submit a bid and is thought to be a front-runner for the library.

Both Abercrombie and Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said Thursday they met separately here with University of Chicago officials in January to discuss the library and what could be done to work together.

"There was mutual interest in collaboration on the Barack Obama presidential center project, but nothing definitive was resolved at the meeting," said Jesse Broder Van Dyke, Caldwell’s spokesman. "Mayor Caldwell is still hopeful that Honolulu will play an essential role in honoring keiki o ka aina President Obama with this project."

Caldwell said he also met with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel about the presidential library on two occasions, once in Washington at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and in Emanuel’s office during a trip to Chicago for the Urban Land Institute Rose Center Fellowship.

Emanuel has been active in trying to unite the various Chicagoland proposals, including ones by the University of Illinois-Chicago and Chicago State University.

In calling for the initial bids Thursday, the Barack Obama Foundation said it envisions a library that is a "new international destination" reflecting the president’s values and priorities, including "expanding economic opportunity, inspiring an ethic of American citizenship, and promoting peace, justice, and dignity throughout the world."

Foundation Chairman Martin Nesbitt said in a statement, "Our goal is to build a library of which the whole country, and hopefully the whole world, can be proud. Our vision is to create a space that reflects President Obama’s values and serves as a force for good in the surrounding community and throughout our world."

The nonprofit seeks to build a facility that will "cultivate a strong relationship with the surrounding community" and asks for proof the community is buying into the project.

On that point Hawaii scores high: There is nearly universal support for the proposal from leaders across the state.

Under the University of Hawaii proposal, an 8-acre site has been identified near the ocean in Kakaako. The proposal also offers a few suggestions for a presidential center, including the creation of a Convening Institute think tank, where Obama would bring together world leaders to discuss global issues and explore ways to address them, and an Education Academy, where research would focus on leadership and issues involving learning from the preschool level to the 12th grade.

Replies to the RFQ four hard copies in bound, 812-by-11-inch books are due June 16. Those who make the cut will be invited to submit formal proposals later this summer. A site is expected to be chosen in early 2015.