Senior Technical Advisor  ·  Washington, D.C.

Obai Kamara

Analytics leader with nearly a decade of experience delivering cost estimates, economic analyses, and data science solutions for Army, Navy, and Department of Energy program offices. From billion-dollar business cases to materials planning dashboards, I turn complex data into decisions that hold up under scrutiny.

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Current Role Senior Technical Advisor Augur Consulting — Arlington, VA
Education M.S. Business Analytics University of Virginia
Experience 9+ Years Federal analytics & data science
What I do

The intersection of rigorous analysis
and strategic impact.

01
Cost Analytics & Estimating
Program Lifecycle Cost Estimates (PLCCEs), parametric and analogy models, and cost reasonableness reviews across hardware, software, and construction programs — from early-phase rough orders of magnitude through milestone decisions and independent assessments. Proficient in ACEIT and advanced Excel modeling.
02
Earned Value & Schedule
EVM analysis, variance reporting, and Integrated Baseline Review (IBR) support for ACAT I–IV programs. Experienced in translating contractor IPMR data into actionable findings for program offices and senior leadership.
03
Data Science & Machine Learning
End-to-end pipelines for classification, clustering, regression, NLP, and survival analysis. Applied work includes a materials planning dashboard for Navy industrial supplier visibility, a multi-source DOE historical cost tool, and survival analysis models on acquisition milestone data.
04
Data Visualization & Dashboarding
Building dashboards that move decision-makers — from contractor performance tracking for DOE management and operating contracts to recruiting analytics and resource allocation tools. Fluent in Python, R, Power BI, Tableau, and VBA.
05
Business Case & Economic Analysis
Led multi-billion-dollar business case analyses informing major DOE site planning decisions. Experienced in Analysis of Alternatives (AoA), cost-benefit analysis, ROI briefings, and independent government cost estimates — including defense before Army and DOE review boards.
06
Training & Community of Practice Leadership
Developed and leads the Data Science Training Series — a case-study-driven initiative teaching data science techniques to analysts of varying technical backgrounds. Also leads two Communities of Practice: a GenAI CoP focused on AI adoption strategy, and a Microsoft Analytics CoP facilitating knowledge sharing and best practices around Power BI, Excel, and related tools.
Experience

Nine years.
Every phase of the lifecycle.

My career has been built doing the hard analytical work that government acquisition programs depend on — cost estimates that survive scrutiny, dashboards that surface real risk, and business cases that inform billion-dollar decisions. I joined Augur Consulting out of Davidson College as an analyst and have grown into a senior advisory role spanning Army, Navy, and Department of Energy clients.

2023 –
Present
Senior Technical Advisor
Augur Consulting · Arlington, VA
Lead complex analytics and cost engagements across DoD and DOE clients. Provided technical direction to a team of data scientists on Navy supply chain and workforce modeling — including a dashboard optimizing $12B+ in shipbuilding supplier investments, presented monthly to senior Navy leadership. Applied ARIMA forecasting models to identify $54.7M in DOE negotiation tradespace. Manage cross-functional teams on multi-year projects and mentor junior analysts. Drive Augur's data science capability through the Data Science Training Series, a GenAI Community of Practice, and a Microsoft Analytics Community of Practice.
2017 –
2023
Analyst → Technical Advisor
Augur Consulting · Arlington, VA
Delivered Program Lifecycle Cost Estimates (PLCCEs), EVM analysis, business case analyses, and data products for Army, Navy, and DOE program offices. Led a multi-billion-dollar DOE business case analysis informing major site planning decisions. Spearheaded development of a Navy materials planning dashboard improving industrial supplier visibility. Reviewed cost reasonableness for a $1B+ major science program ahead of milestone decisions. Defended Army cost positions before senior review boards. Built parametric and analogy cost models across hardware, software, and construction domains.
2021 –
2022
M.S. Business Analytics
University of Virginia · Darden & McIntire
Joint program delivered by the Darden School of Business and McIntire School of Commerce at UVA Darden DC Metro in Rosslyn, VA. Hybrid format for working professionals — built a rigorous foundation in machine learning, NLP, cluster analysis, and data-driven product development while continuing full-time at Augur.
2013 –
2017
B.S. Physics
Davidson College
Four-year Division I collegiate football athlete. Published research in Advanced Science, Engineering and Medicine on the optical properties of piezoelectric crystals. Recipient of the Davidson College Patterson Court Council Outstanding Emerging Leader Award. Graduated with a B.S. in Physics and a quantitative foundation that underpins every analytical approach since.
Recognition

Selected highlights.

🏆
Best Paper, Data Science & Machine Learning Track
"Maximizing Analysis of Minimalized Datasets" — co-authored and recognized at the ICEAA national conference for developing rigorous analytical methodology under small-sample constraints common in government cost estimating.
ICEAA · 2024
📄
Research: Survival Analysis on DoD Acquisition Milestone Data
Applied Kaplan-Meier estimators and Cox proportional hazards models to EVM milestone data from a major DoD shipbuilding acquisition program — examining schedule slip as a time-to-event problem. Submitted to the 2026 ICEAA Professional Development Workshop.
ICEAA Professional Development Workshop · 2026
📊
Navy Supply Chain Dashboard
Spearheaded development of a supply chain analytics dashboard optimizing $12B+ in shipbuilding supplier investments. Presented the tool to 100+ Navy stakeholders and briefed senior Navy leadership monthly on key insights, risks, and analytical findings. Built on a 280GB SQL database of 5,000+ XML files.
Augur Consulting · U.S. Navy
🎤
National Conference Presenter & Community Contributor
Multi-year ICEAA presenter including the 2023 Cost Challenge and 2026 Professional Development Workshop. Contributed updates to the 2023 GAO Agile Assessment Guide. Active and consistent contributor to the federal cost estimating and data science community.
ICEAA · 2023 & 2026 · GAO · 2023
Education
University of Virginia · Darden School of Business & McIntire School of Commerce
M.S. Business Analytics
Joint program delivered by Darden and McIntire, based at UVA Darden DC Metro in Rosslyn, VA. Hybrid format for working professionals — coursework in machine learning, NLP, cluster analysis, and data-driven product development, applied through real-world case competitions and industry-sponsored projects.
Davidson College
B.S. Physics
Rigorous quantitative foundation underpinning all downstream analytics work. Four-year Division I collegiate football athlete. Recipient of the Patterson Court Council Outstanding Emerging Leader Award. Published in Advanced Science, Engineering and Medicine for physics research on the optical characterization of doped crystals.