In July 2000, the SAC Joint Venture (a joint venture of the Structural Engineers Association of California, the Applied Technology Council, and California Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering) prepared a series of recommendations regarding welded steel moment-frame design, evaluation, and upgrade procedures. FEMA-351, Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria for Existing Welded Steel Moment-Frame Buildings, was developed to evaluate the probable performance of existing steel moment-frame buildings in future earthquakes and to provide guidance or upgrading these buildings. The procedures introduced in FEMA-351 allow the determination of the level of confidence a structure will be able to achieve based on a specified performance objective, using simplified analytical methods. Simplified procedures for estimating the probable post-earthquake repair costs and nonstructural damage, based on the losses incurred in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, are presented as well. This paper provides a brief chapter-by-chapter overview of the information contained in FEMA-351 and emphasizes the performance evaluation procedures by stepping through the process using an example building.