In this study the progressive collapse potential of three- and nine-story special steel moment frames designed in accordance with current design code was evaluated by nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. It was observed that the model structures had high potential for progressive collapse when a first story column was suddenly removed. Then the size of beams required to satisfy the failure criteria for progressive collapse was obtained by the virtual work method; i.e., using the equilibrium of the external work done by gravity load due to loss of a column and the internal work done by plastic rotation of beams. According to the nonlinear dynamic analysis results, the model structures designed only for normal load turned out to have strong potential for progressive collapse whereas the structures designed by plastic design concept for progressive collapse satisfied the failure criterion recommended by the GSA guideline.