They believed that their proximity to his ranch in Crawford and their location within 100 miles (160 km) of Austin, Dallas and the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area gave them a good shot at winning such a project.

Not long after Bush became president, officials at Southern Methodist University (SMU) began working on their bid for the library.

Part of the proposal was to create a Laura Bush reading center at Midland College while the main presidential library and museum would be housed on the Lubbock campus of Texas Tech.

The lack of school involvement was a large drawback to the proposal, even though the University of Texas at Arlington assisted the city in making the bid.

An advantage for UD was that the school owned hundreds of acres of undeveloped land next to its campus that lies between several major highways and a future light rail station.

Many in University Park, an upscale enclave next to the campus, were also displeased with the prospect of thousands of people and tour buses going through their neighborhood to visit the library.

In late 2005, the White House announced that SMU, Baylor, UD, and Texas Tech had been selected as finalists to make their pitch to the library committee in Washington headed by the president's long time friend and former Commerce Secretary, Donald Evans.

A few weeks after the presentations had been made, the committee announced that Texas Tech had been dropped from consideration, leaving only SMU, Baylor, and UD in contention.

[6] UD revealed the ambitious plans it had for the library and museum that included a large park, jogging trails, waterfalls, and easy access to a light-rail station.

In December 2006, a letter from several members of the Perkins School of Theology to R. Gerald Turner, president of the Board of Trustees, criticized Bush's policies as "ethically egregious" and expressed concern that the library would serve as a "conservative think tank and policy institute that engages in legacy polishing and grooms young conservatives for public office".

[12] The nonprofit George W. Bush Foundation in early 2009 had a goal to raise $300 million for construction and endowment of the library, according to its president Mark Langdale.

[13] The firm of architect and Driehaus Prize winner Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the architecture school at Yale University, was picked to design the library.

[16] At the event, Dick Cheney commented that "this may be the only shovel ready project in America", using a term prominently and ultimately ruefully associated with President Barack Obama's 2009 fiscal stimulus package.

[19] Some of the sustainable features of The George W. Bush Presidential Center include that the site was built using the same fill from the excavation and there is a dynamic vegetative bioswale for storm water management.

[21] The library and museum are privately administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, while the university holds representation on the institute board.

They included: On November 16, 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) transferred operations of the museum to the George W. Bush Foundation effective January 1, 2023.

Another section include "Decision Points" interactive exhibits about key events in his presidency, the title taken from Bush's memoir.

Other exhibits include Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 global financial crisis, and a collection of items from First Ladies of the United States.

[26] Ambassador James K. Glassman, a former State Department official, was appointed founding executive director of the center's George W. Bush Institute in September 2009, and held that position until 2013.

[27] The institute is planned "to advance four causes he adopted as his own while in office: human freedom, global health, economic growth and education reform".