The few times I was involved in some outsourcing the outsourcing company was contractually obliged to actually be the one doing the work. Not that folks might not cheat and get away with it, but there were financial implications and a somewhat close working relationship that meant that ... it would have been hard to fake. In this case does the original company just not care at all?
The subcontracting situation reminds me of a news article about someone in China hiring a hitman, the hitman then subcontracted to another hitman, who then subcontracted to another, then another, then another. Each hitman was offered half the money of the upstream. The last hitman defected and informed the target.
My experience with outsourcing has always been it becomes a contract game / poor incentives based around contract metrics and in the end a complete waste of money.