August 06, 2026

GSA Issues Statement on HOTD Outage Disrupting Cooling in Washington, D.C. Federal Buildings

Emergency resources being mobilized to restore air-conditioning capability and meet summer demand

WASHINGTON —  The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) issued the following statement responding to a Heating Operation and Transmission Division (HOTD) outage affecting air‑conditioning service at multiple federal facilities in Washington, D.C. The 90‑year‑old HOTD plant is experiencing an operational interruption that GSA teams are actively working to resolve.

“GSA is responding to the HOTD outage affecting air‑conditioning service for multiple federal facilities in Washington, DC. We are working closely with impacted buildings and deploying all available resources to restore operations as swiftly as possible.”

The Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, the National Gallery of Art, the Arts and Industries Building, the Ripley Center, the Freer Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Air & Space Museum, the National Museum of African Art, and the National Museum of the American Indian have all been affected.

Questions regarding facility hour changes or closures should be directed toward the relevant entity.

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About GSA: GSA provides centralized procurement and shared services for the federal government, managing approximately 360 million rentable square feet, overseeing over $126 billion in products and services via federal contracts, and delivering technology services to millions of people across dozens of federal agencies. GSA’s mission is to deliver exceptional customer experience and value in real estate, acquisition, and technology. To address nearly $50 billion in delinquent maintenance, GSA is leading a coalition of every cabinet agency and many federal leaders urgently advocating for full Federal Buildings Fund access and raising the prospectus threshold from $3.96 million to $75 million. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow @USGSA.