1-The person who builds the reports is either too lazy to build in a master n/a for the section, or too inexperienced at the software function, or both.
2/3-This is a combined answer. Character count is a software feature. Coyle does create the Shopmetrics software. They just program and utilize it, so if the software doesn't provide this feature, you can not have it in the reporting software.
That said, if you are not writing your narratives in a word processor that will give you character + word counts, saving each narrative on your own and then pasting into the software, you are doing wrong IMHO. You should not be typing narrative directly into the form. That's a recipe for disaster sooner or later.
The longer answer is that the MSC does not care about the time it takes you to finish a report. They have instituted policy and software changes over the past decade that have clearly demonstrated that. Situations where the form designer could have spent an extra hour or two proofing a checklists for duplicates, creating master n/a buttons, having narrative boxes in the right locations, etc. show shortcuts taken on their end that might take an additional 15-30 minutes for evaluators on each report, not to mention additional time in editorial.